A Trip up North
by So hard to chose usernames
Summary: World War 2, the worlds bloodiest conflict, for mortals and demigods. Country against country, Greek against Roman, and in the north a Giant is being born. Dianna Ross is sent on a quest to Alaska to stop his rise but is haunted every step of the way by the warning she got from her oracle.
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to Camp

**Hey, this is my first fanfiction and I hope you enjoy it. Before we get started I want to say that I own only the characters I create and my own imagination. Everything else belongs to Rick Riordan. I hope you guys enjoy it. Also, this chapter was supposed to be called Welcome to Camp, but I sorta messed up. ;)**

Slash, hack, stab, roll, dodge the blade.

I missed combat training, fighting with your friends, fighting over chores, all those small arguments or just wanting to get the anger out of your system. The rhythm of the fight, the sound the blade made as it hit another blade, the adrenaline pumping through your system, that rush you got when you disarmed your 'enemy'.

None of that prepared you for the real thing.

Our blades met in the air and I tried the disarming technique. They sensed it and kicked my breastplate, sending me flying backwards.

"Oof." I gasped as I landed on my back, and immediately rolled to keep from getting impaled. I desperately swung my sword, catching their ankle and knocking them off their feet. I was on them in an instant, about to impale them with my sword when I got hit with an arrow.

"Oh shit!" I gasped, yanking the arrow from my armour and throwing it. When it exploded I turned my attention to the person on the ground under me.

A child of Ares no doubt. Wait no, they were Roman, they called him Mars. Well, whatever they called him, he was the god of war, and his children knew how to fight.

He reached up and ripped my helmet off, throwing it into the fighting and leaving me exposed. My heart thudded painfully in my chest and I realised I had dropped my sword, the only weapon I had left was my dagger. I knew I was terrible with swords but trying to fight off a Roman army with nothing but a celestial bronze dagger, well . . . I wasn't eager to try it.

I yanked out my dagger and stabbed down, but he grabbed my wrist and easily pushed my hand back. I could feel the power in his grip and my heat raced. I made a fist with my other hand and punched him in the face. He punched me right back, so hard I saw stars.

I collapsed on the ground next to him, putting one hand on my cheekbone. I figured it was fractured. I could feel my eye puff up and I rolled, hearing my dagger sink into the spongy ground.

I kicked at him and he grabbed my leg. I screamed in fear and rage, twisting in his grip like a snake. I managed to squirm out and in desperation I threw my helmet at him. I scooted backwards, looking around for reinforcements.

Unfortunately everyone was in a fight for their life. The war had been going on for what felt like forever, but what was really only a week or so.

I turned and caught his fist before he could punch me again, my heart racing. There was no adrenaline in my veins, just ice cold fear. I wasn't ready to go to the Underworld, I was only fourteen, my life was just starting, I didn't even know who my mother was.

An arrow hit his helmet and he staggered to the side. I reached up and ripped his helmet off with one hand, bashing him in the head with a tree branch in my other hand. I leaped on him and pulled out his own imperial gold dagger and stabbed him in the head.

I rolled off of him, collapsing in exhaustion. _That makes three today._ I thought sadly.

"Dianna? Are you okay?" A boy asked, running over, a bow in his hand and an almost empty quiver on his back.

"Yeah." I gasped. "Thanks Harry."

Harry Fitzgerald was my best friend, a child of Apollo, and the camps best archer. He was decked up in his bronze armour like me, I could see his green eyes through his helmet and only a bit of his curly blonde hair. He stretched down his hand and helped me to my feet.

"You took quite a hit." He said, studying my eye. "Possible concussion."

"I can still fight." I said.

"After some ambrosia." Harry said. "You can't fight half blind."

I didn't want to disagree with him but we needed fighters, we were being pushed back towards camp and we couldn't let them take it. "I have to keep fighting." I insisted.

"You will, after we get that eye looked at. It could get worse." Harry insisted.

"Fine." I replied, picking up my helmet and dagger.

"Where's your sword?" Harry asked.

"It's gone." I said. "Somewhere in the fighting."

Harry nodded, he loaded an arrow and fired at something over my shoulder. We started heading towards camp, offering assistants whenever we could. My body count slowly grew. _Four, five. . ._

Slash, duck, dodge, block.

I caught the blade on the hilt of my dagger and I lashed out, kicking their armour, the sheer weight of it sent them tumbling backwards. I turned and ran, not wanting to kill anyone else.

We made it back to camp at around dusk. Harry went to stock up on arrows while I headed to the infirmary to get my eye checked on. They sentenced me to a good night's rest in my cabin.

Like anyone could sleep good on the floor of the Hermes cabin. But at the moment I was so tired it sounded like Elysium. I took off my armour and put it back on the racks. Before I could lose my nerve or forget I went to complete my after battle ritual.

Tommy Fitz was an unclaimed demigod, just like I was. But he had a passion for art, he created what he called 'tattoos' on our bodies, using ink he had found on his last quest. I always went to him after a fight with other demigods.

"How many do you want this time?" He asked me, setting up his equipment. He had wiry muscles and a scarred face that might have been handsome at one point.

"Five." I said.

"Sit down." He said, nodding to the chairs.

I sat, I didn't even need to bother rolling my sleeves up. On each of my arms I had thin black rings circling my biceps, one more on my right arm then my left. One for each demigod I killed.

I wanted to remember them, not because I was sadistic, but because I was remorseful. I didn't want to kill, I wish I didn't have to, but I did. And I needed to carry around that burden, I couldn't forget their faces, killing wasn't right, but sometimes it was necessary. I did it to protect my friends, and my family. But they had friends to and it wasn't fair to forget them.

It still stung but I had long since gotten used to it. It was over in minutes, he wrapped my arms up and said. "That's an even two dozen now."

Two dozen dead by my hand, my blade. How could I achieve Elysium as this killer? I did not deserve it.

"Dianna." Tommy said softly. "You have to stop, you're doing what you have to do."

I shook my head. "That doesn't make it easier Tommy."

He sighed and ruffled my black hair. "Get some sleep D, I'll see you later."

"See you later T." I said, getting up and heading to my cabin, my arms sore. I walked in and curled up on my floor space.

It was odd, usually the Hermes cabin is so packed that my head is on someone's legs or chest and someone else is using my legs as a pillow. But now there were only three other people asleep, two others nursing injuries of their own. I curled up on the floor, closing my eyes.

I instantly fell asleep, thankfully a dream free sleep. But the good can never last, it was only hours later when I was woken up by someone running in and yelling. "The oracle has a new prophecy! Chiron has ordered an emergency meeting at the amphitheater to discuss a quest!"

Before I could see who it was they were gone.

I exchanged a look with another member of the Hermes cabin, Stacy, a fifteen year old daughter of Hermes. She yawned and stretched, her brown hair in a messy braid.

"Hopefully this is good news." She muttered, getting up.

I got up and followed her to the amphitheater, my heart heavy with the feeling of impending doom.


	2. Chapter 2: I get chosen for a quest

**Hey, sorry for such a short chapter but I couldn't think of a better way to end it. It sort of sets the mood for the story. I think you'll reconise one of the prophecies ;) Anyway, enjoy!**

It had to be around midnight, a cool breeze blew through camp, making me shiver and rub my elbow. I regretted leaving my blanket behind, or not grabbing a sweater or something.

About two dozen campers huddled around the fire, nowhere near how many were in the camp, but most were fighting, and others healing. We were the only ones left to defend the camp from monster attacks.

The oracle stood by Chiron, she was a twelve year old girl wearing a tie-dye dress and sandals. She didn't look threatening but she still gave me the creeps. "The oracle had given two prophecies." She announced, her voice older and deeper than it should have been given her age. "One that I doubt will happen for a while at least, the other I believe is more pressing."

Everyone was holding their breaths. _Two_ prophecies? That was a first, I had never even been around for one prophecy, let alone two.

I nervously fingered the bead around my neck, it was a caduceus, representing the boom of unclaimed campers. And for the first time I was seriously doubting if I'd make it to get my second bead.

"The first prophecy goes like this." The oracle said: "A half-blood of the eldest gods, Shall reach sixteen against all odds, To see the world in endless sleep, A hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap, A single choice shall end his days, Olympus to preserve or raze."

I stared at her before following everyone's eyes to where Raymond sat, the son of Poseidon, one of the big three. He was fifteen years old, a boy. _Could it be him?_ I wondered, pondering the prophecy.

The campers around the fire started muttering, Stacy turned to me and whispered. "Do you think it's Raymond? Or maybe it's Jen."

Jen was short for Jenifer Woods, daughter of Zeus. She was thirteen years old, she wasn't at the campfire, she was fighting in the woods against the enemy. She was a great swordsmen.

"Maybe." I whispered. "But it says 'a single choice shall end _his_ days' not hers."

"Yeah." Stacy said, frowning slightly.

"Quiet!" Chiron yelled, pounding his hoof on the ground.

I forgot to mention, Chiron is a centaur. From the waist up he looks like a regular guy with curly brown hair and a scruffy beard, but from the waist down he's a white horse.

"There is still another prophecy to announce. This one is more pressing and I believe a quest is to be issued immediately."

The oracle nodded and said. "Here is your second prophecy: In the land beyond the gods, An evil is raised against all odds, Deeply entombed in an earthly cave, Forced to serve as Earth's own slave, Awakening monsters both new and old, Using the jewels both silver and gold, The chosen they must release, Or an end to the world that sees no peace."

I frowned in confusion, _the ending to the first two lines matched with the other prophecy, could they be connected? And then 'the chosen they must release' could that mean the chosen for the other prophecy?_ I wondered, pondering it over. I tapped my chin and I was so preoccupied I missed a conversation, only the oracle saying: "The oracle shall choose who embarks on this quest." snapped me out of my daze.

She closed her eyes and swooned, Tommy catching her, but she stood before he could sit her down. Green smoke came from her mouth and she said in a voice that echoed, like three of her were speaking at once. "Raymond Rodriguez, son of Poseidon, you shall lead the quest."

"I accept." Raymond said, standing up at the edge of the auditorium. I noticed he had tattoos of black waves circling his wrists. He seemed a little self-conscious of he pushed away his black bangs, determination in his sea green eyes.

The oracle turned away from him and said. "Jessica Clarke, daughter of Aphrodite."

A girl stood and looked at Raymond with her light blue eyes. Her chocolate hair was braided perfectly over her shoulder and even though she had no makeup on she was drop dead gorgeous. She was fifteen years old, with three beads on her necklace. "I accept." She said with a nod.

Finally the oracle turned and said. "Dianna Ross, unclaimed."

I couldn't breathe, my heart skipped a beat. I stood slowly, feeling everyone's eyes on me. I swallowed, trying to find my voice. Before I could say anything however the oracle stared at me and said: "But be warned Dianna Ross: For you will suffer a great loss, To be taken and locked in a cage, Never to return until the lands Golden Age."

She swooned and Tommy almost forgot to catch her. I stared at her in horror, my mouth completely dry. I saw Jessica coming towards me but Chiron beat her to it.

"I believe we need to talk my dear." He said, his brown eyes troubled. "Why don't you come over to the Big House?"

He made it sound like a question but I knew it was an order. Jessica tried to catch my eye but I averted my gaze, following Chiron without a word.

**There you go, we have our questers! I hope you're enjoying it so far. Till next time.**


	3. Chapter 3: Hard Truths

**Hey, this chapter is a short one, not much action but it's setting the mood for what's to come. **

"Am I going to die?" I asked as I sat down.

"That I cannot tell you." Chiron said.

"The oracle, she told me I would be locked up." I said, fighting panic. "That I'd lose something."

"But she said you'd return." Chiron said. "Do not despair."

I laughed bitterly. "Sure." I said. "Easy for you to say."

"It is not easy." Chiron said. "Do you know how many times I've sent hero's on quests? Most times they do not return. I can train them and try to prepare them but their fate is up to the Fates. And so is yours."

"What do I do?" I asked Chiron softly.

"The decision is yours alone." Chiron responded. "Will you accept the quest?"

"I have no choice." I said. "The oracle picked me out herself."

"There is always a choice." Chiron said. "Raymond and Jessica could go on their own."

I thought that over, I have to admit, the idea was tempting. I didn't want to be locked in a cage, or lose anything. But then I remembered what other campers warned me, that people got in trouble trying to thwart prophecies.

"No." I said. "I can't do that to them. I'm going, I have to. It's my destiny."

"I guessed as much." Chiron said. "But I must admit, I am surprised the oracle singled you out, and gave you that warning. I fear for your safety, but you will return, the oracle foretold that. Don't think too much into it, prophecies often have double meanings, we never know what they mean until after they happen." Chiron looked out at the sky. "Wait here." He told me. "I'll go and get Raymond and Jessica."

I nodded and waited on the couch, but five minutes later I heard a scream and I ran to the window. Three people were staggering down the hill, the one in the middle limp.

I ran outside, pulling out my dagger. I wished I was wearing more than just pajama's, or that I had my armour on. But when I got close I skidded to a halt. It was Harry, he was on one side, dragging them along with one of his siblings, Gretel I believed.

"What happened?" I asked as Chiron galloped up, bow at the ready.

"Infirmary." Harry gasped. "Quickly."

"I'll take her." Chiron said, his face grim.

I helped sing the girl onto Chiron's back and with a jolt I recognised Jenifer, but there was a dagger driven to the hilt in her chest. Gretel hopped onto Chiron and he sped away.

I looked at Harry, my eyes wide in distress. "I saw it but there was nothing I could do." He whispered. "One second she was holding her own and the next I hear her scream. What happened?"

It was a rhetorical question I knew but the answer dawned on me quickly. "The prophecy." I whispered.

"What?" Harry asked, but I wasn't paying attention.

_Maybe the prophecy isn't meant to happen now._ I thought. _If that's the case then maybe this quest was designed to eliminate Raymond. Oh gods, what do I do?_

. . .

By the time we reached the infirmary it was too late, I could almost sense death. Chiron clopped out, shaking his head in sorrow. He stared at me and said. "Meet me at the Big House in ten minutes, I will get the others."

"Jenifer?" I asked, already knowing the answer, but needing it confirmed.

"She's dead." Chiron said sadly, turning and galloping away.

"Why does Chiron want you at the Big House?" Harry asked, turning to me. "Dianna what happened when I was gone?"

"Prophecies, quest, a warning." I whispered, starring at my feet, just realising they were bare.

It took a minute for Harry to understand. "Wait, you're going on a quest?"

I nodded. "The oracle chose me. She – she gave me a warning to."

"A warning?" Harry said. "What do you mean?"

I told him it, word for word. I watched the disbelief on his face, the shock. His fingers tightened on his bow and he looked around, as if searching for monsters or Romans to shoot down and vent out his frustration. He looked at me. "What was your prophecy? Who else is going with you?"

"Jessica Clarke and Raymond Rodriguez." I replied, than told him the prophecy. We began to walk up to the Big House. Then I told him the other prophecy also mentioned.

Harry shook his head. "But why you?" He asked. "What makes you so special? Why couldn't it have been someone else?"

I shrugged. "It's the Fates." I said. "And who knows, maybe my mother will claim me."

Harry looked down dejectedly. "Try and come back." He said.

"I will." I said. "I don't want to leave. Just . . . win this war for me? Okay?"

"The lands golden age." He murmured. "Maybe that's when this wars over."

"Hopefully." I replied, trying for a smile. "Fighting for your life sure does get old after a while."


	4. Chapter 4: Bad Dreams

**Hey guys, here's chapter four! **

We made it to the big house in silence, but before I could enter Harry did something that surprised me, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me into a tight hug. I didn't hesitate before returning it full force. I was scared, the oracle had just predicted my death – or something close to it – and I was being sent on a quest to the unknown.

I figured my day sucked.

When Harry pulled back he gripped my upper arms, frowning when he felt the bandages for my tattoos. He looked at me softly. "You have to stop." He said softly.

"I can't." I whispered. "I can't forget them."

Harry looked at me sadly before saying. "Come see me before you leave, please."

"I will." I said. "I promise."

Harry nodded and left, casting an anxious glance back at me. I nodded once and turned to the big house, I opened the door and was greeted instantly by Jessica. She practically pounced on me.

"Oh my gods, when will you two start dating?" Jessica asked. "You are so cute together."

My face instantly heated up. "I – I . . . uh . . . I don't . . ." I stammered.

Jessica laughed and looped her arm through mine, dragging me towards the dining room. "Don't worry." She said brightly. "Everything'll work out."

She seemed to have forgotten the war against the Romans, the oracles prophecies or her warning to me personally, or our quest. I didn't understand her cheerfulness one bit.

_Aphrodite._ I thought, rolling my eyes. I sort of hoped she wasn't my mom, but then again, anything was possible.

We walked into the room and saw Chiron and Raymond waiting for us, I disentangled myself from Jessica and sat in the chair closest from the door; and as far from them as possible.

Jessica went and sat by Raymond, even though there were more than enough chairs around for everyone. I stifled a groan as I realised I'd be a third wheel on this quest. Yay.

Chiron cleared his throat. "We are here to discuss the oracles prophecy, she has clearly chosen you all and you have all excepted the quest at hand. There is the question of how you will get to your destination."

"Exactly where are we going?" I asked. "Where is the land beyond the gods?"

"Alaska." Raymond said, somewhat darkly. He shot a glance at Chiron and said. "Alaska, right?"

Chiron nodded. "And as the prophecy states an evil is being raised up there, something old perhaps."

"_Awakening monsters both new and old._" Jessica recited. "Something up there is calling monsters, I take it we have to stop it."

"It must be evil." Raymond pointed out.

"Not necessarily." I countered and everyone gave me a funny look. "Remember what the oracle said? _Forced to serve as Earth's own slave._ Maybe they're doing it against their will?"

Chiron scratched his beard. "It's a possibility." He admitted. "Nothing can be ruled out. Remember: prophecies often have double meanings, don't think about them too hard." He looked directly at me while talking.

"Her warning." Raymond said, leaning forwards intently. "What does that mean?"

"We will know as it happens." Chiron said.

"How will we get to Alaska?" I interrupted quickly.

"You must find your own way, we will give you money and supplies but the trip must be completed by you three alone." Chiron said.

"Yay." I muttered sarcastically.

"You should probably leave first light." Chiron said. "Get some rest, I'm afraid you'll need it." With that happy thought finished he wheeled himself out of the room, leaving us dumbfounded.

Raymond was the first to move. He got up and nodded at us. "See you both at first light."

I nodded back and stood, making my way out of the room. I hurried to the Hermes cabin, hoping for not to be disturbed. I was confused to say the least, Jenifer had just died and yet Raymond was acting perfectly fine, yet she was like a little sister to him and Jessica, gods they were attached at the hip. What was it with them? Did we really loose so many that one more death means nothing? One more friend gone and we just accept it.

I was miserable, figuring I had terrible luck, even by demigod standards. Come to camp and weeks later get thrown into a full fledged war, get singled out by the oracle to go to the lands beyond the gods and then – if that wasn't bad enough – the oracle tells me I'm going to be locked up and I won't come back until the golden age. Yippee.

I would like to say my day didn't get any worse, but that would be a lie. The moment I closed my eyes I was plunged into a dream.

. . .

I was in on an island, I looked around and there was a small boat on the shore but before I could investigate it I heard a rustling in the woods. I turned and saw spirits drifting pasts, I hear monsters growl threateningly and I could basically fell the evil in the air, warning me to stay away.

So naturally I walked down the path.

I wasn't too sure on where I was going but I walked the path like I had done it many times before. Eventually I came upon a dark and creepy cave between two boulders, it radiated darkness and gave me the freaky deekies. I stepped inside and was instantly warmed, but something felt off. The cavern felt . . . alive, it seemed to have its own heartbeat, a constant boom that seemed to shake the cavern. It felt like the earth was alive. But I was hit by a wave of malice, visions of wars and a sleepy voice filled my ears, I couldn't understand what they were saying.

My eyes snapped open and I realised I had started to fall asleep, my legs had buckled and I shook my head, trying to clear away the sleepiness. This place was dangerous, dream or not. I took a deep breath to calm myself when I heard it; a woman was laughing and a girl was crying and pleading.

"Please, I can't go on." She gasped. "I need a break."

"No." A voice said, so cold I shivered. "Keep working! You are not finished yet!"

"I can't." The girl cried, and I found myself walking towards them. I saw a small girl – no older then thirteen – kneeling on the ground. She had curly brown hair, dark skin and her eyes were gold, but right now they looked like tin. She stared up at a skinny woman with pure grey hair and dirty clothes. It took me a minute to realise that this woman was the girl's mother. But when she spoke I knew there was something wrong with her.

"Bring valuables from the earth. Use your powers, child. Bring my most valuable possession to me."

The girl cried but raised her hands. The cavern shook and then gold and oil started emerging from the ground and entering a pit. I slowly walked over to it and steeled myself before starring inside. I caught my breath as I starred at the figure inside.

It was massive, almost two stories high. I couldn't really see it but I could feel the heat and I could only guess that the gold, diamonds and oil were being used to create this creature from the ground. It felt like this figure – this abomination – was almost ready to rise.

And I had a feeling this is what we were sent to stop.

_My son._ A voice said, seeming to come from the walls of the cavern and making me jump. The woman and child didn't seem to hear it and I realised it was only for me. But how did this woman know I was here? It was just a dream.

_He is almost ready to wake, only a few weeks perhaps, then the final sacrifice. There is no stopping this, no preventing it. Turn back now Dianna Ross, let my son rise and I promise you will tread lightly on the earth. Reject your destiny now, refuse the quest. Do you want to be locked in a cage? _

"Who are you?" I whispered. "What do you want from me?"

Her cold laughter filled the cavern. _You will find out soon little hero._ She murmured. _Stay at camp, fight the Romans._

"I can't." I said. "The oracle chose me, this is my destiny."

_Do you want to suffer?_ She murmured. _To be locked up?_

I began to shake. "How do you know all of this?" I whispered.

_Do not oppose me Dianna Ross._

I woke up crying.

**Well, I think you all know who the enemy is, or should know if you've read the Heroes of Olympus series. It's time to get rollin ;)**


	5. Chapter 5: My Quest Begins

**Hey there, back with Chapter five. It's on the dull side but it picks up next chapter, it's time to get the ball rolling :) Enjoy!**

I wiped my eyes and quickly took a shower, wondering exactly what my dream meant. I had heard of demigod dreams before but I had never had one. The weirdest dream I ever had involved me messing up and stabbing myself in the foot while helping my dad with one of his magic tricks.

Yea, my dad's a magician, not exactly a famous one but he's actually pretty good. He told me that my mom used to help out with his acts before she got a job offer in Hollywood and moved, leaving me with him. He had always said she had been his lucky charm and that having a daughter like me made him feel like the luckiest man alive. My dad rules.

Another awesome thing about him is that he has the ability to see through the mist. Not a lot of mortals can do that. He told me that was one of the things that my mother was attracted to. So because of this I can see through the mist better than most demigods.

So last year I noticed my substitute teacher only had one eye, and he kept looking at me. When I pointed this out to my friends they stared at me like I was nuts. They told me he had two eyes, but admitted that he kept watching me.

When I got home I told my dad about it and he contacted camp immediately and sat me down, telling me my mother didn't move to Hollywood, that she was a goddess, but he wouldn't tell me which one. He told me that it wasn't safe there anymore and I had to go to camp and that we may never see each other again.

I'll admit it, I cried.

I stayed home for two days, until a satyr came and escorted me to camp. We were attacked many times and Christian – the satyr – never made it to camp. He died to protect me from a hellhound. I've been carrying his dagger ever since. I planted him – he became a rosebush – inside of camp and I take care of it. It became my favorite spot at camp, where I went to calm down and collect my thoughts.

So I wasn't surprised when I found myself there after my dream. I crouched by the bush and cried quietly for a minute. I looked at the bush through my tears and whispered.

"I'm so scared Christian. I – I don't know what to do."

I sat by his bush, seeking comfort from the roses blooming as I waited in fear for dawn. From here I could pretend that everything was alright, that there was no fighting and it was just another day at camp.

I didn't know how long I was lost in thought, but after a while I heard someone say: "I knew I would find you here."

I didn't bother turning to look as Harry sat beside me. "You always come here to think." He said.

I didn't think, I just leaned sideways and rested my head on his shoulder. "I'm scared Harry." I whispered softly. "I don't know what to do."

He gently wrapped an arm around me and we stared at the bush for a while in silence. Then I sighed and said: "I have to go on my quest soon."

"I know." Harry said and we pulled apart. He stood and offered me a hand, pulling me to my feet. Then he turned and gently plucked a rose from the bush and handed it to me. "Here." He said softly.

My eyes watered and I flung my arms around him, trying not to cry. "Thank you." I whispered.

"Come back Dianna." He said.

"I'll try." I said softly.

We pulled apart and he handed me a bag. "I packed you some ambrosia and nectar along with some other healing supplies." He said. "There's some mortal money in there as well and some drachma's for Iris messages, hopefully it'll be enough to help."

I looked up at Harry, surprised, yet touched. I didn't know how to thank him for this, it was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me. I quickly kissed his cheek and whispered. "Thank you."

His face turned pink and I blushed to, wondering what came over me. "It was nothing." He said. "I wish I could do more."

I shook my head. "It's everything." I whispered to him. "I don't know how to thank you."

"Just come back." Harry said. "I don't want to lose you."

I looked down at the rose in my hand before looking up at Harry. "Never to return until the lands golden age." I recited, then I smirked and said. "I'll be back."

Harry smiled and said. "You should probably get ready to go now. Get something to eat, there's some food in the pack to but it'll only last a couple of days."

I nodded but before I could move Harry quickly kissed me. "Just in case." He said, before turning and leaving. I stood by the bush, to shocked to move for a while.

. . .

An hour or so later I stood at the edge of camp with my pack and waited for Jessica and Raymond. I had my hair up in a ponytail and was wearing a dress that was easy to run in, my dagger strapped to my leg. I had stowed the rose carefully in my bag, wrapping it in a cloth. I still didn't know what to think of the kiss.

I'll admit, it was my first kiss.

But before I could dwell on that fact Chiron trotted up to me with Raymond, Jessica and Argus following him. Jessica looked stunning in her green dress and white stockings. Her hair was braided perfectly and I felt a little jealous, wishing that I looked like her.

Instead of wavy brown hair I got stuck with frizzy black hair, and instead of beautiful light blue eyes I was stuck with light grey eyes, mist coloured my dad called them. Jessica was everything I wasn't; tall, full figured, gorgeous, outgoing, the list just goes on and on.

And then there was Raymond, the most popular boy at camp, well muscled, a great swordsmen, he could control water and talk to the sea creatures, and his father was Poseidon, one of the big three gods, the only child since his half-sister died weeks before I came to camp. From what I had heard she had been one of the first casualties, speared from behind as she saved one of the new campers. So yeah, he was intimidating, the most powerful demigod in camp and all that.

I almost forgot to mention Argus, he . . . well he's hard to explain. He's like the security guard around here, with eyes all over his body. He escorted all questers for the trip into town. And for that I was glad, we'd get a little peace at least.

Chiron wished us luck on our quest and I was about to head down the hill when I saw Harry standing a few feet away.

"I'll be right back." I mumbled, walking quickly to him and hugging him. I could feel Jessica watching but I didn't care.

"You remember everything I taught you?" Harry asked.

"Yes." I said, pulling back. "Listen, I have to go."

"I know." Harry said. "But Dianna, about what happened . . ."

"We'll talk about it when I get back." I said with a small smile. He offered me a smile and I turned and walked away. I looked back at the top of the hill and saw him watching me. I raised my hand in a wave and then called out. "See you in Elysium?"

He smiled and finished our old joke. "I hope not!"

**Let's get this quest on the road! Next chapters more eventful, I promise.**


	6. Chapter 6: A New Kind of War

**Hey there! I'm back! So I'm thinking I'll update this maybe once or twice a week, I've been posting pretty randomly so I'm going to try for every four to five days. Anyway in this chapter there's finally some action! Not really any spoliers for Blood of Olympus but there are some connections, I can go into more detail if you want. Enjoy!**

We were all quiet as Argus took us to the train station. He gave us mortal money for tickets and sent us on our way. We bought them and boarded the train, silent and lost in thought.

I was thinking about my dream and how it connected to the prophecy. "Earth's own slave." I muttered thoughtfully.

Raymond glanced at me with a small frown. "What?" He said.

I found it a little unnerving to meet his sea green eyes but when I did I repeated what I said: "Earth's own slave."

"How is that important?" Raymond asked.

"It's part of our prophecy." I pointed out. "And I've been thinking, the Earth isn't alive so how could it have a slave?"

"There's an Earth goddess." Raymond said. "I just can't remember her name. But she's really old, older then the Titans."

"So there's an Earth goddess raising an evil monster in Alaska forcing a girl to raise valuables on an island to create it." I mused. "And I thought this would be hard."

"A girl?" Raymond said, narrowing his eyes. "An island? What do you mean?" Jessica looked over, frowning at me curiously.

For a second I stared blankly at him before remembering they didn't know about my dream and I felt extremely stupid. "I sorta had a dream last night." I admitted, they stared at me expectantly so I told them everything about it.

"Hmm." Jessica said, tapping her chin. "Earth goddess . . . her son . . . a few weeks. I take it this isn't going to end well. This could end up in another war."

"A war?" I repeated.

Jessica's face darkened. "Yes, Gaea, the Earth Goddess, mother of the Titans. I would assume the son she's raising is Kronos, the Titan Lord of time. If he rises while the gods are fighting like this . . . then civilization as we know it will end."

Wow . . . I didn't know what was more shocking. The fact that us three were supposed to take on a very old goddess raising her son in Alaska or the fact that a child of Aphrodite was smart.

The day was full of surprises.

"And let's not forget the fact that everyone is singling out Dianna." Raymond said, fixing his piercing gaze on me. "The oracle and Gaea trying to stop her from trying. Most likely that means Dianna must be important."

I found a hard time believing that. I was an unclaimed demigod with no powers whatsoever, the only thing I was good at was lying and killing enemy demigods. My own mother didn't even care enough to claim me. Of course I wasn't the only one but it was still harsh.

"I agree." Jessica said softly. "For all we know she could be the one of the prophecy."

I instantly shook my head. "My mother is the goddess, not my father." I pointed out.

Jessica studied me. "Technically Aphrodite is the oldest of the gods." She pointed out.

I blushed slightly, wondering if Jessica was complimenting me. "No." I said. "I think it's obvious I'm not a child of Aphrodite and besides, her children are over sixteen. The prophecy says against all odds. That means the Big Three's children. I'm thinking the girl in the cave might be one of them. _The chosen they must release._ What if it's the chosen for the prophecy?"

"This could be the beginning of the Great Prophecy." Jessica said.

"Great Prophecy?" I echoed, raising an eyebrow.

She shrugged. "Seems fitting, don't you think? The whole thing seems huge, great even. It's just a feeling."

Raymond grinned. "I like it."

I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes and state he'd like anything that came out of her mouth. Instead I said. "It does seem fitting."

"So, how do we plan on getting to Alaska?" Jessica asked.

"We don't have enough money to get there." Raymond said.

I shrugged my bag off of my shoulders and riffled through it. I had to smile as I pulled out the wad of cash Harry had given me. It must have been most or all of his savings. It made me miss him even though it had only been hours at the most.

"Where did you get that?" Jessica asked in awe.

"Harry." I said with a smile. "He packed me a bag."

"Gotta love your boyfriend." Jessica said.

I turned scarlet. "He's not my boyfriend." I said softly, wondering if that was true. After all we did kiss, but did that mean we were together?

Jessica just smiled knowingly and said. "He's crazy about you. Trust me, everyone comes to me for relationship advice."

My eyes widened at the implied message. Harry had gone to her and asked about me, oh gods. I didn't know whether to be flattered or horrified.

"You'd be cute together." Jessica said with a smile. "You'd be like, the camp couple."

My entire face burned and Jessica laughed; man, even her laugh was pretty. But she wasn't a snob, and for some reason that surprised me.

"So the quest." I mumbled to get her off that topic.

She grinned at me and said. "Hopefully we have enough money for a trip to Alaska and back, not to mention food and other resources we might need."

"I've got a little food." I said. "And some medical supplies."

"Did Harry teach you anything on healing?" Raymond asked.

"Yea." I said, stuffing the money back in and closing the bag. "He's been teaching me, but I'm not exactly a child of Apollo."

Jessica laughed and Raymond grinned. But the good mood didn't last long. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt nervous. I needed a better view of the cart without drawing attention to anyone. I stood and said. "I'll be right back, I need the bathroom." But as I passed them I whispered. "Stay alert."

I headed to the bathroom and went in quickly, wondering if I was just being paranoid, but no, I had felt the same way when the substitute teacher Cyclops stalked me only much worse.

There were monsters on the train.

I headed out of the bathroom and back to my friends, my eyes scanning my surroundings. I saw the conductor of the train and he smiled and waved at me and I smiled back. Then a man came out of the bathroom, he was huge, almost seven feet tall with a single bloodshot eye almost hidden under the rim of his hat. I caught my breath.

Cyclopes.

I turned to head back to the others but I found my path blocked by another Cyclopes that grinned evilly at me. My heart pounded as I started to reach for my dagger, wishing I could somehow get Raymond's and Jessica's attention. I wondered what the mortals saw.

But before my hand could touch the hilt I heard Jessica scream. Then passengers started screaming over by them and I heard a growl. I wondered briefly what the mortals were thinking as I grabbed the hilt of my knife.

"Dianna Ross." The Cyclopes in front of me mumbled, making me freeze. It knew my name, the monster knew my name.

"How do you know my name?" I asked, my heart starting to pound.

"Come with us and your friends won't get hurt." The Cyclopes rumbled. I heard Raymond shout defiantly and the clang like two swords meeting and I wanted nothing more than to run and help.

"What do you want from me?!" I yelled, frustrated.

"The Blood of Olympus." The Cyclopes rumbled.

I was honestly clueless, but I blinked away my shock and pulled out my dagger, trying to look as threatening as I could in a dress. "Not a chance one-eye." I said.

He charged.

I jumped out of the way and saw the second Cyclopes barreling down on me and I barely managed to roll aside. The mortals started screaming and running, creating a blind panic. I began to wiggle amongst them, trying to blend in.

"Don't let her escape Hank!" The Cyclopes that spoke to me roared.

Hank swatted mortals aside like they were flies and grinned when he saw me. "I found her Graug!" He shouted, reaching for me.

I was smooshed between two mortals so I did the only thing I could think of, I threw myself on my stomach and started to crawl. Mortals stepped on me in a panic and I gritted my teeth to keep from crying out in pain.

"You can't get away that easily!" Hank roared and I instinctively rolled to the side, knocking over a couple of mortals. When his hand slapped the ground next to me I stabbed it. He roared in pain and I got to my feet. I jumped to the side to avoid the club swung at me and I charged Hank. When he swung at me I slid in between his legs and spun, chucking my knife at the back of his head. It was a direct hit and he roared before dissolving into a golden powder, my knife clattering to the floor.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I grew up around throwing knives. My dad used to get me to strap him to a wheel and throw knives at him as he spun. So I've gotten pretty good.

Then Graug stepped up and growled at me. "You can't win that easily demigod." He snarled. "You may have defeated my brother but now you're weaponless. The Earth Mother will have you yet."

"Over my dead body." I snarled, getting to my feet.

"That can be arranged." Graug said with a wicked smile. He ran at me and I ran at my knife. I stooped low to grab it but Graug grabbed the back of my dress and threw me backwards. I crashed painfully into the wall and slumped at the bottom with a groan. I got to my feet and he stalked towards me.

"You will work for her and help her take over the world."

"You talk too much." I reported. I ran and grabbed the nearest pole, swinging around and kicking Graug, making him stumbled backwards. I dashed for my knife, diving for it and rolling. I swung wildly, cutting into his palm as he reached for me. He howled and jerked his head away, golden dust landing on my face. I got up and turned, running straight into a wall.

Yup, very heroic.

I felt Graug wrap his hand around me, pinning my arms to my side and I struggled and screamed, kicking desperately. "Let me go!" I shouted, hoping Raymond or Jessica would hear and come to my aid.

"Not yet little demigod." Graug said. "It's time to fulfill your destiny."

I caught my breath as the oracles warning flashed through my mind. Then the prophecy. _To be taken and locked in a cage._ _Forced to serve as Earth's own slave._

Oh gods.

"No!" I shouted, struggling violently. Panic started to creep up on me. I was terrified to say the least. "I won't!"

Graug just laughed and carried me though the train, heading for the back. "Raymond!" I shouted. "Jessica!"

"Your friends are dead." He rumbled. "This is what you get for refusing to follow orders. Remember this moment little demigod, or your father will die along with your friends."

The colour drained from my face. They couldn't be dead! The quest had just started! I couldn't be my fault! It just couldn't!

Then it hit me, the full weight of what he had just said. "What?" I whispered hoarsely. "What did you do to my father?"

He chuckled. "Let's just say that unless you cooperate he'll be performing his last magic trick."

"No!" I shouted, struggling violently. I wouldn't believe him, I refused to believe him. "No! Jessica! Raymond! Help!"

Graug just laughed and brought me to the back of the train, I kicked and screamed and cursed him but it didn't seem to faze him at all. He whistled and waited.

"Let me go!" I yelled.

"You cannot prevent fate." He rumbled.

"Fate can kiss my ass." I snarled, making him laugh.

"Dianna!" Jessica yelled, running into the room with us. She had her dagger in her hand and had a cut running down her other arm. "Let her go!" Jessica shouted.

Graug hesitated before dropping me. I was so surprised I didn't catch myself. I scrambled away before Graug came to his senses. "A child of Aphrodite." He mused. "Charmspeak of course. You must die quickly."

"Not a chance." I snarled, getting to my feet. "You have to get through me first."

I threw my knife and it sunk into his arm as he tried to dodge. I ran at him and rammed his gut with my shoulder, knocking him backwards and through the open door. I yanked out my dagger and screamed as we toppled off of the train. But Jessica grabbed my arm and hauled me back in.

"Raymond?" I gasped.

"Here." Raymond panted. "There was a hellhound."

"Two Cyclopes." I panted. I looked at him, my eyes full of fear. "They knew my name."

Raymond tightened his grip on his sword. "Anything else?" He asked.

"They said they wanted the blood of Olympus from me. And they wanted me to work for Gaea. When I said over my dead body he said it could be arranged." I looked at Raymond and then Jessica. "Why me?" I asked, almost pleading with them. "I don't want to be a slave, or get locked in a cage. I never asked for this!"

Jessica touched my arm lightly. "No one ever does." She said softly. She put her knife away. I put mine away to, although I still felt uneasy.

"Let me patch up your arm." I said. I took my bag from Raymond and wrapped it, trickling a bit of nectar on it. "There." I said. "You'll be fine." I put the nectar in my bag and slung it over my bag. "So what now?" I asked.

"I'll get our stuff." Raymond said. "We're getting off next stop."

I nodded and he left. I sat beside Jessica, closing my eyes and leaning against the railing. "This sucks. Why do they all want me? I'm not important, I'm just a stupid unclaimed demigod. I'm not worth killing and kidnapping."

Jessica turned to look at me as Raymond came back in. "Dianna . . ." She said, trailing off. "Look out!" She yelled and I snapped my eyes open, jerking away and preparing to run. But sharp talons dug into my arms and lifted me into the sky.

**My first Cliffie! Awww. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. See you soon!**


	7. Chapter 7: Take Off

**Here you guys go, I think it's been four days so here's Chapter seven! Also I'd like to thank my first reviewer (They reviewed on Chapter 5 but I noticed it after posting chapter six XD). *Happy dance* So thanks! Enjoy!**

Jessica grabbed my ankles and was lifted up. Raymond was forced to drop our stuff and he ran and pushed off the railing, grabbing Jessica's legs before we soared out of range.

Stupid! I scolded myself. You knew Graug was calling for pick up!

I looked up to see something sleek and black. It had the body of a panther, eagle claws and head and beady red eyes. I didn't recognise it from my monster fighting class.

I looked down and realised Raymond was the only one out of us that could grab their weapon. But he had his eyes shut, in concentration or fear I didn't know. I wondered if he was afraid of heights. It made sense, the sky being Zeus's domain and his dad being the god of the sea and all.

I couldn't help but wonder where it was taking us. I looked at Jessica and yelled. "Can't you charmspeak it into letting us go?!"

"I can try!" She yelled. "Hey griffon! Can you set us down somewhere?"

The griffon ignored her and soared. She kept yelling at it before yelling. "It's hopeless!"

Then Raymond's eyes opened and he smiled. "Hang on guys!" He shouted. Then he let go of Jessica and fell through the air.

"Raymond!" Jessica screamed as I yelled no.

He disappeared into the clouds and Jessica sobbed. I felt my eyes widen in shock. Why would he do that? Then he appeared, soaring through the clouds on a pure brown Pegasus. He shouted. "Jessica! Let go!"

Jessica squeezed her eyes shut tight before letting go, falling through the air and screaming. Raymond dove to catch her as the griffon soared through the air, traveling faster with less weight. I started struggling in its grip as Raymond soared over with his sword drawn and slashed at the griffon. It veered away and I had to curl up to avoid getting cut. Raymond started a midair battle, slashing at the griffon. Then he got a lucky blow, slicing the wing off. The griffon screeched and spiraled downwards, plummeting through the clouds. Unfortunately it didn't let go of me.

I could see the Pegasus dive after me and I looked down to see the sea glittering under me. I kicked at the griffon, I curled up in a ball, spun and kicked off of the griffon, launching myself into the air.

It would be nice to say Raymond swept in and caught me but I would be lying. Instead I started to fall again and I spread out and fell, my arms and legs out like I was a star. My hair blew in my face and I stared up at Raymond and Jessica, knowing they wouldn't make it in time.

Raymond yelled defiantly and the ocean exploded under me, engulfing me and dragging me under.

I held my breath and struggled to the surface, fighting the current. When my head broke the surface I saw Raymond swoop down and he hovered above me, extending a hand down.

"Thanks." I said, grabbing it as he pulled me up. Let me tell you, getting onto a Pegasus mid-flight is extremely difficult and involves lots of swearing and bruises and feathers in your hair, but it's possible.

We flew towards land and about an hour later the Pegasus landed ungracefully, almost knocking Jessica off. We quickly got off and noticed it bleeding from a cut on its leg. I didn't know how to heal animals so Raymond sent it back to camp, thanking it for its help.

"You can talk to horses?" I said.

"Yup." Raymond said. "Now, let's go figure out where we are."

It didn't take us to long to realise we were in Ohio. And by us I mean me. I grew up in Ohio. We were by my old home.

I was hit by a pang of homesickness and as I walked by the police station I saw a sign in the window.

"Dianna?" Jessica said.

I walked away from them, to the window and I starred at the sign. There was a picture of a man with curly black hair and baby blue eyes with the word missing above it and underneath it said: Alexander Ross.

My dad.

Graug hadn't been lying.

"No." I moaned softly. "No, no, no."

"What's wrong?" Jessica asked. Then: "Oh."

"What happened to him?" Raymond asked quietly.

"Graug." I said sadly. "The Cyclopes that attacked me, they said they had my dead and if I didn't co-operate they'd kill him."

"What do they want from you?" Jessica asked, touching my arm lightly.

"_Forced to serve as Earth's own slave._" I whispered. "And the blood of Olympus, whatever that is."

"I think we need to iris message Chiron." Jessica said.

I nodded and Raymond gently led me away. I didn't realise it but the sun was setting, mark our first day on the quest. Gods, we barely survived the first day, how would we manage to get to Alaska?

"I think I know a place we can spend the night." I said, I led them through the twists and turns, heading to the one place I never thought I'd see again. My house.

I opened the secret compartment in the doorknob and grabbed the key, closing it and unlocking the door before pocketing the key. I walked inside and waited for Jessica and Raymond before closing it and locking it behind them. "We'll be safe here." I assured them, I smiled softly. "My dad always told me our house was protected by magic, that mom had blessed us." I sighed. "She must have changed her mind."

Jessica smiled a little and walked through the small house. We were isolated, living on a hill and surrounded by trees, there were only two bedrooms, mine and dad's. Magic tricks filled the room, giving the house a cluttered feel. I showed them where they could change and wash out before going to the spinning wheel, spinning it as hard as I could before throwing knives at it, not once hitting the outline of the man.

"You're good." Raymond commented. "I've always wondered how you practiced."

I shrugged, throwing another knife and frowning as the wheel slowed down. There wasn't really a challenge anymore.

"I never thank you." Raymond said and I looked sharply at him.

"For what?" I asked. "For almost getting you killed? For almost getting myself kidnapped? Twice? For putting you and Jessica in danger? Gods, we haven't even been on this stupid quest for a day and I messed everything up!" I spun and threw my last knife, it sunk up to the hilt where the person's head would have been.

"You have good eyes." Raymond commented, stopping the wheel to admire my handy work. "Good senses. I've always thought I was the best at sensing monsters but you knew they were there way before I did. How did you know?"

"A feeling." I muttered. I walked forwards and began to pull out my knives. "I've always been able to sense monsters. I always knew something was off. I've learned to trust my instincts."

Raymond yanked out a knife and handed it to me. "What happened?" He asked.

"Trip to camp." I said. "The satyr sent to escort me died. I felt like something was off but I dismissed it for nerves because we were so close to camp. Then a hellhound and Cyclopes attacked. Christen died to save me."

"It's what satyrs do." Raymond said simply. "They protect half-bloods."

"He was my friend." I said, shooting Raymond a small glare. It didn't seem to faze him. "Just because their parents aren't gods doesn't mean they don't deserve the life they were given. All life is precious, down to the smallest blade of grass."

"You're very passionate." Raymond observed.

I scowled. "I don't have a lot of friends." I muttered. "So excuse me if I'm a little clingy."

"You know, Christen made a choice to save you." Raymond said. "He went on his own free will."

"I know." I said, deflating a little. "It was a crossroad. He had two options: left or right, life or death. I wonder if he chose the wrong one." I pulled out my dagger. "This belonged to Christen, I've carried it ever since. I wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for him, or Harry, or Jessica, or you."

"If you hadn't given us a heads up on the monster attack we would have died." Raymond said.

"Well I'm the reason we lost the train." I said. "Getting caught by the Cyclopes and griffon."

"Cyclopes?"

I told him about Graug and Hank, and the weird things they talked about. He frowned at that and said. "It doesn't make much sense." He admitted. "We'll Iris message Chiron in the morning, try and get some sleep."

"Sleep?" I echoed. Like I could sleep with these thoughts.

Raymond nodded. "I've got first watch."

I reluctantly left and cleaned myself up. By the time I got back in Jessica had passed out on my bed, so I crawled into my dad's bed and curled up. I pressed my face into his pillow, trying to catch a wiff of his scent. All I smelt was must.

I sighed sadly.

It took me a while to fall asleep, but when I did I was plunged into another nightmare.

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 7, next chapter is a little bit of back story for Dianna. Bye!**


	8. Chapter 8: Demigod Dreams

**So here's chapter eight! It's really just her dreams but they are important to the story, a bit of her history with her dad amoung other things. Enjoy!**

At first my dream started out okay. I was six years old again, and my dad was putting on a mini magic show for me in our house. He had just gotten some stage lights installed and wanted to test them out. I sat in the wooden chair he had made for me and waited for him to come, giddy.

"Welcome! Welcome!" Father said, walking out of the kitchen and waving. I giggled and waved back as I watched him act like he had a crowd watching. "Thank you for coming this evening. I am The Great and Powerful Alex." He executed a little bow and I giggled.

"For my first trick of the night I will need a volunteer from the audience. Would anyone like to come forwards?"

I raised my hand and my father frowned, pretending to consider his options. "Hmm." He said. "Aha! You, young lady, come forwards." I got up and walked towards him, smiling. "And what is your name?" He asked.

"Dianna Ross." I said, smiling at him.

"Sounds familiar." He said and I giggled. "Have I seen you before?"

"Daddy." I laughed.

He smiled at me. "You have something in your ear." He said, he pretended to frown and he reached behind me. "Aha!" He said, pulling out a penny.

I laughed and clapped. "Do it again Daddy!" I yelled.

He frowned. "I don't know if you have any more money in your ears, but I can check." He reached behind me and pulled out another penny. "Wow." He said. "We're rich!"

I laughed and he smiled. "Now for my next trick . . . I shall pull a dove from my hat." He took off his hat and pulled out a dove, he let it fly around and it landed on my shoulder. I pet it and watched my father perform more tricks, juggling, making a ball in a dish disappear, pulling dozens of napkins from his sleeve. Then he squirted me in the face with a small stream of water from his flower and I shrieked and laughed. He smiled and bowed.

"That is all for this evening." He announced. "I bid you farewell and safe travels." He took a small step backwards and executed a bow, taking his hat off. The dark curtain swept across the doorway like magic, blocking my view of him.

It wasn't long after that that he began to teach me his magic tricks. I learned that he had built the house himself, designing all of his magic tricks into it. You stepped on a floorboard and the curtain would get dragged across by a rope, he kept the doves in his room, only bringing them out during show time and for practice. I became his little helper. Even though his tricks were fake I still believed in magic. I knew it wasn't in the form of tricks like his but it existed, in ways we couldn't see.

My dad said I always had a way of seeing through the lies in the world and discovering the truth.

. . .

My dream changed and now I was with Christen, heading to camp. My feet ached and my stomach fluttered. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up but I assumed it was because I could see half-blood hill. I was almost at camp.

I turned to Christen. "What if they don't like me?" I asked nervously. "Will they kick me out?"

He smiled at me, his green eyes warm. "Don't worry." He assured me. "You'll fit in fine. You'll be a valuable asset at camp."

I smiled softly. "Maybe one day I can help you search for Pan." I said.

Christen grinned, brushing strands of blonde hair out of his eyes. "Let's get you trained first." He said.

"Then Pan." I said.

"Then Pan." Christen agreed. "We're the dynamic duo."

I laughed, it wasn't really funny but I was giddy. We had made it, the weeks of traveling were over. Almost.

That's when I heard the growl. I gasped and spun, seeing a hellhound crouching and getting ready to pounce, a Cyclopes standing a few feet away. "Kill the satyr." He commanded.

"Dianna run!" Christen yelled.

I darted up the hill but froze as the hellhound charged Christen. I couldn't leave him. I whipped out my knife and got ready to throw it. The hellhound pounced and Christen scrambled out of the way. It tipped back its head and howled as my knife sunk into its eye.

Christen ran towards me and pulled me away. "We have to get to camp." He said, pulling me up the hill. "Fast as you can."

I ran with Christen and I heard the hellhound give chase. We dove to the side and the hellhound whipped it's head to the side, pouncing on me and forcing me to the ground. I screamed in pain and fear as it's claws dug into my shoulder and it opened its jaws wide, ready for the kill.

"Dianna!" Christen yelled.

"Don't kill her!" The Cyclopes roared.

The hellhound yelped and then spun, causing me to cry out in pain as it twisted it's claw in my shoulder. It pounced at something and I heard Christen yell in pain.

"Christen!" I screamed, sitting up and clamping a hand over my heavily bleeding shoulder. The hellhound had him pinned, snarling. I got up to help but before I could move it lunged, and with one snap of its jaws Christen was gone. "NOOO!" I screamed. Tears stung my eyes and I turned and ran, staggering up the hill. I heard the hellhound bound after me and it crashed into my back, knocking us both over and sending me sprawling. It's teeth grabbed the back of my dress and it began to drag me towards the Cyclopes. I screamed and struggled, my good hand brushing against the hilt of a knife. I yanked it out and stabbed backwards, the hellhound yelped and let go of me, my blade slicing through its neck and causing it to disintegrate.

No, not my blade, Christens.

The Cyclopes stalked towards me, brandishing his club. I tried to rise and meet him but my head swam and my shoulder screamed, streaming blood. I knew instantly I couldn't fight him and I turned and tried to stagger up the hill. I made it to the top and I heard a whoosh, I instinctively ducked but it had been aimed for my legs so it hit my injured shoulder and caused me to scream and fall, rolling down the hill painfully.

The Cyclopes chased me and when I stopped rolling I looked at him, my vision swimming. He was reaching for me, his large hand closing around me tightly. He lifted me up and Christens knife fell from my limp fingers. He laughed and turned, right before disintegrating and dropping me.

The last thing I saw before I passed out was a boy with green eyes and curly brown hair, a bow in his hand. Harry.

My dream changed again and I saw my father tied up and guarded by monsters, he looked okay, but slightly panicked. He knew what the monsters were and probably what they wanted.

"Father." I whispered, a tear trailing down my cheek.

He gave no indication of knowing that I was there, neither did the monsters. But a certain earth goddess did. Her laughter filled the cavern, making me tremble with rage.

_Look at your father._ She purred. _Tied up and helpless, at my mercy. You can save him my dear, leave your friends, my monsters will find you and bring you to me. I promise your father will walk free, I will ease his burden on the earth._

"What do you want from me?!" I screamed.

_The blood of Olympus._ She murmured, her sleepy voice filling my head. _I need to rise, to wake. Help me overthrow the Gods, what have they ever done for you? You don't even know who your mother is. _

I caught my breath, I was at a crossroad, saying the wrong thing could get my father killed, But I just knew I couldn't join her. She wouldn't just destroy the Gods, she would destroy everything, letting the monsters roam free.

"I . . ." I began, trailing off when I looked at my father. I held back tears and swallowed the lump in my throat. "I can't." I whispered. "I'm sorry."

_You'll let your father die?_ Gaea asked.

"No." I said. "I'll find a way to save him."

_Come for him. _Gaea purred. _Continue the quest or come for your father, it does not matter. What matters is that you'll be mine, and I'll finally wake._

I was woken up by Jessica, the sound of Gaea laughing echoing through my head.

**So, there you go. Also I'd like to say another review! XD I'm not gonna beg you to review, don't worry, but I like seeing them. So a big thanks to the reviewers and thansk to everyone who reads this, you guys are great. :3 Anyway, I might post the next chapter early, it's my favorite out of them all so far. Later!**


	9. Chapter 9: Magic Tricks and Monsters

**Here's Chapter nine! I wasn't going to post it until tomorrow but I have school and religion, ugh, so I decided to give it a day earlier. :) I actually enjoyed writing this chapter, I hope you like it!**

"It's your turn to keep watch." Jessica whispered.

I nodded and got up, letting her take my father's bed. I quickly got changed, noticing Raymond conked out on my bed, snoring. I walked out and ran my fingers over all of my father's old magic tricks, remembering the good old days. I looked at his jacket, stuffed with magic tricks. I picked up my father's big hat, blowing the dust off of it. I set it back down and looked out the window, moving the blinds to the side.

Then I went into the kitchen, rummaging through the cupboards for food and preparing breakfast for everyone. I also got ready to make an Iris message, placing a drachma on a camera and slipping another one in my pocket. I set the table and then went to wake Jessica and Raymond up, starting with Jessica, they got changed and I served breakfast.

We all devoured our food, we were famished, not having eaten in almost a day. There were no leftovers.

I was happy to let the silence between us stretch but then Raymond leaned forwards and said. "I had a dream last night."

I looked at him, a little surprised. "So did I."

"I didn't." Jessica admitted.

"Gaea asked me to join her, help her rise by giving her the blood of Olympus." Raymond said.

"Did she threaten you to?" I asked.

Raymond didn't look at me. "She tried."

"With what?" I asked.

"She said – she said she has Jenifer." Raymond said. "And that she'll kill her. But that's impossible right? Chiron would never let that happen."

My jaw dropped, I will admit I was surprised. I looked at Jessica and saw a look of shock and fear on her face. Oh gods, they didn't know, why didn't Chiron tell them?

"Poor Jenifer." Jessica breathed. "Do you think she's being held with your dad?"

I looked at her, shocked. "No." I said faintly. "No, she isn't. I think . . ." I swallowed painfully. "I think she's in Elysium."

Raymond's green eyes hardened. "No." He said. "She's not dead. I won't let her die."

I felt tears sting my eyes. "She's dead Raymond." I whispered. "She died before we left for our quest. I don't understand why Chiron didn't tell you. She – she was brought to camp with a knife in her gut. They tried but – but they couldn't . . ." I choked up and cleared my throat before whispering. "I thought you knew."

Raymond's eyes filled with anger and grief. He got up sharply and went outside. Jessica sobbed, covering her mouth with her hand and getting up and fleeing. I stared mournfully at the table. My eyes flickered to the water and drachma. I had wanted Raymond to use his powers to create an Iris message but now I couldn't even face Chiron. How could he keep that from them? They deserved to know.

"Why Chiron?" I whispered.

I knew we had to leave soon but I couldn't force myself to move, I just sat there, starring mournfully at the glass of water. I was suddenly angry, at Chiron, and at the gods for putting us through this, for not even trying to stop their children from slaughtering each other.

"I don't understand!" I yelled, frustrated. "We're your children! Why don't you do something to get us to stop fighting! If you cared at all you'd end this war! Why are we fighting each other when there are bigger enemies to fight?" I punched the wall in anger, bowing my head and shaking with anger and grief.

My thoughts began to grow dark. Why should I fight for the gods? They didn't care about us, if they did then they would stop the fighting. They would claim us instead of letting us wonder who our parents were. They would help us.

I stared at the drachma on the counter and the stained glass wind chimes, getting an idea. I created a rainbow, but instead of Iris messaging anyone I tossed the coin in and said: "For my mom."

The coin disappeared and the water splashed on the floor. I smiled softly. "Thanks Iris." I whispered. I lit a fire in the stove and burned what little scraps we had left as an offering to her.

I extinguished the fire and leaned against the wall, to wrapped up in my own thoughts of darkness to notice that the dread I felt was not from memories. I heard Jessica gasp and my head jerked up so fast I got whiplash.

Jessica was in my cramped living room, facing about a dozen monsters, Cyclopes to be exact. I swallowed hard and knew we couldn't beat that many. Not with force anyways.

"Where are the others?" One Cyclopes growled.

"I – I . . ." Jessica stammered, her eyes wide in fear.

I looked at my dad's hat as a plan came to mind. I rushed around and grabbed everything I would need, putting everything together on the fly as Jessica tried to stall. I shrugged on my father's overcoat and put on the tall hat, tipping it back so it would stay on my head. I figured I looked ridicules but at the moment I could care less.

I brought my shoulders back and strutted into the living room with a bright smile. "Sorry to keep you waiting." I apologised. "But don't worry, I'll make it up to you."

"Dianna . . ." Jessica whispered.

I shot her a look that said: roll with it.

"Come with us Dianna Ross and we will not hurt your friend." A Cyclopes said.

"Of course." I said smoothly. "But first some entertainment. You're my guests! I'd hate to be a bad hostess. Let me entertain you! I'm sure you've had a long and tiring journey hear, I'd hate to be rude."

"Entertain us?" One Cyclopes said.

I frowned at him. "That's what I said, isn't it? There must be something in your ear, one moment." I had the drachma from my pocket in my hand and I reached behind his ear and pretended to pull it out. "Aha!" I cried. "That's the problem." I dropped it into my pocket and dusted off my hands. The Cyclopes were staring at me, dumbfounded.

I sighed and backed up, hanging my head. "You guys are bored aren't you?" I said, making my voice tremble. "I'm sorry, I'm a terrible host." I pulled a handkerchief out of my sleeve and wiped my eyes, only a dozen were tied together so they just kept coming out and I cried, wiping my eyes with them, pulling them out and the Cyclopes oohed and aahed.

Finally it was done and they clapped.

"Thank you." I said, executing a little bow. "And now, I invite you to look into my hat." I took the hat off of my head and showed them the empty inside, they frowned and I said. "Jessica, hold my hat."

Jessica looked at me nervously and I face palmed. "Oh! I forgot to introduce Jesssica, my assistant for the night! Everyone give her a round of applause!" The Cyclopes clapped and Jessica looked at me with barely suppressed terror, while I kept a straight face. "And I am the famous Rossini, magician extraordinaire." I bowed again and they clapped.

"Jessica, hold my hat please." I said and she held it up for me. I reached inside and under the fold to feel my dove, Frosty, cling to my fingers. I pulled her out and the Cyclopes gasped in shock. "Frosty." I scolded. "What were you doing in there?"

Frosty shook her head and spread her wings, flying over to land on Jessica's shoulder. She seemed to calm her down and she stopped shaking. I took my hat back and replaced it while the Cyclopes clapped and cheered.

I saw Raymond come in the back and I shot him a glare. Unfortunately one of the Cyclopes saw and yelled. "What are you looking at?"

"My other assistant." I responded. "He's late. Get out here Raymond, don't be shy."

Raymond walked out, fortunately his sword wasn't drawn. He looked at me and I used my eyes to tell him I had a plan.

"Do you guys know what this means?" I asked and the Cyclopes shook their heads. "It means he gets a turn on the wheel of punishment!" I said, stepping to the side and gesturing to my target practice wheel. "Jessica, strap Raymond on please."

Jessica shot me a panicked look and I looked at her reassuringly. She swallowed and led Raymond over. As she strapped him on I explained it to my 'audience'.

"Once he is strapped to the wheel I will have Jessica spin it. While Raymond is spinning I will throw these knives at the target." I gestured to my table, where all of the knives gleamed.

I heard Jessica stifle a gasp as she finished strapping Raymond on. I picked up a knife and nodded at Raymond, letting him know I didn't plan on hitting him. "Spin him." I commanded.

"Dianna." Jessica breathed in horror.

"Spin him!" The Cyclopes roared, making Jessica flinch and spin the wheel, Raymond spun, rather fast actually. I threw my knife and it landed between Raymond's legs. I threw another one, and another, until I was out of knives. "Stop the wheel." I commanded and Jessica did.

I had thrown six knives, two of which were between his legs, the other four scattered around him. I had made them land fairly close to him, to make the Cyclopes think he was in danger.

I nodded, satisfied at the gasps of surprise. Jessica untied him and he staggered, dizzy. I let him sit and told Jessica to fetch me a silver platter. I opened it and showed them it was empty, then I set the top back on and twisted it and when I opened it there was a ball in it. The Cyclopes roared and clapped.

I preformed a few other magic tricks before pulling out a plastic flower and smelling it. "It smells nice." I remarked. "You want a wiff?" I held it out for one of them to smell and it blasted a stream of water in his face, making him roar and the other Cyclopes roar with laughter, shaking the house. I smiled and said: "My bad."

I put the flower back in my pocket. I was almost ready for the finally, Raymond looked like the room had stopped spinning and soon he could run. Unfortunately I was out of tricks, tricks I had mastered anyways.

One Cyclopes grew impatient and said. "Time to go to Gaea!"

"Wait!" I yelped, throwing out my hands. "I still have a couple of tricks."

"What tricks demigod?" He asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

I picked up the eight ball from a table, knowing how stupid this was and knowing I could die. I advise that none of you attempt this ever. I placed the ball in my mouth and swallowed, I used my throat to move the ball up and down my throat before finally squeezing it out and holding it in my hand, trying to catch my breath. They roared in approval and I smiled in relief. "Now!" I called, with a glance at Raymond. One more trick and he should be fine. "I will swallow a sword! Jessica, get me Raymond's sword."

Jessica glanced sharply at me but did what I asked. The Cyclopes watched me intently and I swallowed hard before tipping my head down and slowly lowering the sword down my throat – another thing I advise you **never **to do – then I carefully brought it out and bowed, wiping any and all saliva from the blade. Raymond stood and accepted it. I sent him a glance, asking him if he could run. He nodded.

"And now for our final trick!" I announced, spreading my arms and walking forwards. "I shall make three demigods disappear!"

I stepped backwards and the curtain pulled across the doorway. I bolted from the room, Raymond and Jessica right behind me, and the Cyclopes cheering behind us.

I ditched the coat, grabbed my bag and split.

**I shall mae three demigods dissapear, my favorite line to write so far. Hope you enjoyed! :)**


	10. Chapter 10: Claimed

**Hey, I'm back. Sorry about the sorta late update, I had the chapter written but no internet to post it :( Anyway I hope you guys enjoy!**

It took them a few minutes for them to realise what had happened but by that time we were long gone. I led them through the woods, towards Alaska, I knew we could never run it but it didn't hurt to run closer.

We finally broke out and ran into a town where we merged with the mortals. After buying another set of train tickets and settling down in our seats Jessica punched my shoulder.

"That was amazing!" She exclaimed and I blushed.

"It was nothing, really." I said.

"You saved us." Jessica said.

I scowled. "No I didn't, we could have easily escaped."

"We could have died." Raymond said. "You know, saving lives doesn't always involve killing something. You were extremely brave Dianna."

I smiled softly and we began to chatter aimlessly about anything and everything. They asked how I had known all those tricks so I explained it to them. We swapped storied, Jessica told me about herself, how her dad was rich but never knew her mom was a goddess. She told me she had run away when her dad began to make advances on _her_ – gross right? – and she had never looked back. Raymond had a better story, his mom knew his dad was a god, she remarried and was happy, she sent Raymond to camp when he was ten to protect him. They talked through letters and he learned told us he had a – completely mortal – half brother named Jake. He was planning on taking a trip to visit them and meet Jake.

Then we talked about dreams, Raymond pretty much had the same dream as me, but he didn't see Jenifer. We puzzled over that for a bit but nothing came to mind. So we sat back and enjoyed the ride.

Surprisingly no monsters attacked us the whole ride.

We got off somewhere and looked around for a map. Unfortunately we found something else, something really awful, snobby rich kids.

They examined Raymond, giving him a once over and giggling, I resisted the urge to gag and looked around at the shops. Everything seemed alright. "I'm going to go find out where we are." I muttered, glaring at the girls before dissolving into the crowd. I saw Raymond look at me curiously but I wasn't ready to get insulted by a bunch of stuck up pretty girls again. I headed towards the nearest stall and was about to ask the man where I was when I felt something powerful.

Not a bad kind of power, but sort of comforting and familiar. I turned and saw a woman standing by the crossroads and I was drawn to her. She looked like she was about twenty years old, her golden hair pulled up in a high-set ponytail, like Ancient Greek style – and she had a dark sleeveless gown on that looked very silky, every time the dress moved it seemed like it was made out of ink spilling don her gown. She looked at me, her eyes pure black. She tilted her head to the side and seemed to break into two different people before merging back together.

"Dianna Ross." She said, her voice warm enough.

I knew she was a goddess, I could feel the power radiating off of her, but I wasn't sure which one she was. And besides, I thought the gods were incapitated?

"What – what goddess are you?" I asked, my mouth going dry.

She smiled. "I am Hecate, goddess of magic."

I gave her a little bow. I had never met a god before so I didn't know the procedures. She smiled and pulled out a drachma from thin air. "I appreciated the gift." She said.

"Gift?"

Then I looked at the drachma and I remembered tossing it into the rainbow and offering it to my mother. "You – you're my – my mother?"

"Yes." Hecate said.

I have to admit I was surprised. I had assumed Demeter or Athena, for some reason I didn't think minor gods had kids.

I smiled happily, I was claimed! It was amazing! I couldn't wait to get back to camp and . . . wait, there was no cabin for my mother, where was I supposed to sleep? Would they make one for her? Why didn't she have a cabin?

Hecate's smile turned a little sad. "Yes, you understand why I couldn't claim you earlier. They do not honor me at camp, they only honor the major gods." I could hear the bitterness in her voice.

"Mother . . ." I said, honestly I was at a loss for words. "Mother, can you help me? I don't understand why Gaea wants me so badly. Why did the oracle single me out? What's going to happen to me?"

Hecate studied the drachma in her hand, twirling it around her fingers. "One drachma can buy much." She said thoughtfully. "As you have paid me, so I will pay you."

She waved her hand and the mist enveloped me, starting from my feet and cloaking me. When it dispersed I was wearing completely different clothes. And even my hair was done, it was done in a Greek style and my dress was simple and white and it flowed to my knees with one shoulder strap, a brown belt wrapped around my waist with my dagger strapped to it. I was wearing good fitting boots that I could easily run in. I had a bronze bracelet encircling my wrist and I stared at myself in shock. Then I realised our backpack full of supplies was gone.

"Where's my bag?" I asked, looking around for it.

Hecate smiled and pointed to my wrist. "Take it off." She invited. I did as she asked and it morphed into my bag, I gasped and dropped it in shock, making Hecate smile.

"Wow." I breathed. "That's amazing. Thank you."

Hecate smiled. "I am also the goddess of magic. I believe you'll learn how to wield magic and the mist someday."

"Me?" I gasped.

"Yes you." Hecate said, an amused expression on her face. "You are my daughter after all. Stronger than most. You have near perfect sight, beware when you look at Gods Dianna, you might see more then is good for you."

"Uh . . . ok." I said, picking up the bag. "Um . . . how do I change it back?"

"Put it on your wrist." Hecate said.

I felt stupid but I did as she asked and it immediately morphed into the bronze bracelet. My eyes widened in surprise. "That's amazing."

"Maybe one day you will learn how to do that." Hecate stated.

"Um, how do I use the mist and magic?" I asked, hoping I wasn't pushing my luck.

"That you must learn on your own." Hecate said. "But remember: people see what they want to see."

I nodded, not knowing what she meant but knowing that was all I was going to get. "Thank you mother." I said, giving her another bow. "I will make you proud."

Hecate smiled. "I'm sure you will." She said. "I must admit I enjoyed the show you put on for the Cyclopes."

I blinked in surprise. "You did?"

"Yes." Hecate said simply. Then she said. "Our time is up, I'll leave you a gift, but you must find out how to use it yourself." She frowned as if something about me bothered her and she waved her hand, a rose appearing in the sleeve of my dress and she nodded as if she had perfected me. "Go to your friends, they will need you."

With that she disappeared, leaving me alone at a crossroad.

**So there's the chapter, she's finally claimed. I know my first reviewer guessed it right. See you in 4 days!**


	11. Chapter 11: Pretty People

**Here's Chapter 11 guys! I hope you enjoy, and I bet you'll recognise someone's name :) I think I'll try to incorperate Heroes of Olympus while keeping the story line the same, it'll be a fun challenge. :) Enjoy!**

I turned and hurried back to my friends. I didn't know what they'd need me for but I was worried nonetheless. It's not every day your mother tells you your friends need you. And when she's a God, you take it seriously.

I realised I still didn't know where we are, which was the whole point of running off – okay not the whole point but my excuse – and I'd look really dumb coming back without knowing.

So I walked up to a man and tapped him on the back, he turned and I found myself starring at a grinning Cyclopes. Great, just my luck.

"Di –" He began but disintegrated before he could finish saying my name. I was not having it today. Cyclopes that wanted to kidnap me? No thanks.

I put my knife away and kept walking, standing on my toes to peer over the crowd. I felt someone touch my arm and I instinctively jumped.

"I'm sorry!" A boy exclaimed, jumping at my reaction. "I didn't mean to scare you."

I'm pretty sure I blushed. He was Asian – it was my first time meeting an Asian, I've never left the states – and he had warm brown eyes. He was about my age, wearing slacks and a button up white shirt.

"I'm sorry." I said. "You just startled me."

"My apologies ma'am." He said. "I was just wondering if you could tell me where I am, I'm a bit lost."

I laughed and he frowned. "Oh, I'm not laughing at you. You see, I was just about to ask you the same question."

He laughed and I smiled.

"Would you like to walk around with me until we can find someone who can tell us where we are?" He asked with a small smile.

"I don't even know your name." I said with a small smile.

"Daniel Zhang, at your service." He said, executing a small bow.

I smiled and curtsied. "Dianna Ross, pleased to meet you."

He offered his hand. "The pleasure is mine." He said and I grabbed his hand and shook it. "So, about that offer . . . ?"

I opened my mouth to agree before realising that I was looking for my friends and that they could be in danger, I couldn't drag a mortal into it.

"I'd love to but I must be getting back to my friends." I said apologetically. "It was nice meeting you Daniel."

"Nice meeting you to Dianna." Daniel said. "I hope I can see you around."

"Likewise." I said with a nod and we parted ways.

I found Jessica quickly enough, but not Raymond. I tapped her on the shoulder and she just said hey, glaring at something on the other side of the market. "What's up?" I asked.

"Raymond." Jessica said, her voice tinged with disgust. "Look at him, flirting with those girls. Gods, I mean, they aren't even that pretty."

"Someone's jealous." I said with a laugh.

Jessica turned to me with a scowl but then her eyes widened in shock. I assumed something was wrong. "There's a monster behind me isn't there?" I whispered.

Jessica shook her head. "What are you wearing?" She asked. "I thought you were finding out where we were? How much did that cost."

"One drachma." I said honestly, puzzling Jessica.

"You wasted one drachma on a new outfit?" She sounded outraged and I'll admit I was a little surprised, a daughter of Aphrodite not into buying clothes? History. "And where is our supplies? What did you do?"

I couldn't help it, I smiled and Jessica's face turned red. "Don't worry Jess." I said, trying not to laugh. "I'll tell everything to you and Raymond. Where is he?"

Jessica pointed and I turned, my amusement disappearing quickly and replaced by horror. "What are they?" I whispered.

"Snobby, stuck up, no good man-stealing – "

"Man stealing?" I said with a frown, making Jessica blush. "I meant what kind of monster, I've never seen anything like them before."

It was true, I mean they had flaming hair and mismatched legs, one mechanical bronze and the other shaggy and cloven hoofed, they were even paler then Harry was when you told him you had – accidently – made his quiver of exploding arrows, well, explode. That's pretty pale.

Jessica frowned at me. "What are you talking about?" She asked. "They're just a bunch of pretty girls."

I wondered why Jessica couldn't see them, then I remembered that as a daughter of Hecate and a mortal that could see through the mist I had better sight then most.

"No they're not." I stated. "The mist is clouding your view."

"Why isn't it clouding yours?" Jessica asked with a frown.

"I have better sight then most demigods." I explained. "My father can see through the mist, so can I. But those aren't teenagers, they're monsters." I described them to Jessica and she clenched her fists.

"Sounds like empousai." Jessica said. "They're servants of Hecate, I've even heard that they can charmspeak."

"Charmspeak?" I said with a frown. "Like you can?"

"Yea, except I don't really know how that works." Jessica said.

"Well, let's go join them." I said. "See if we can convince them to leave us alone before they kill Raymond."

"Be on guard for charmspeak." Jessica said. "Maybe you can counter the effects."

I nodded and we pushed our way through the crowd. I heard one girl laughing and I saw her twirl her fire hair. Ouch.

"So Raymond." One of the demons said. "What brings you to Minnesota?"

"We're travelling with our school." Jessica said, coming to stand by Raymond's side.

"Really?" The demon said, giving her a once over.

"Yup." Jessica said with a smile.

"Where are you guys from?" Another one of the demons asked, I could feel the power in her voice.

"Around." Jessica answered sweetly.

"New York." Raymond said at the same time, sounding like he was in a daze.

"How nice." A demon answered, she had brown eyes and seemed to be the leader, she was doing most of the talking.

"So." I asked, coming to stand on Raymond's other side. "Where are you guys from?"

"Of you know." Brown eyes said.

"I do." I said with a smile. "I must admit, I've always wondered what Tartarus looks like at this time of year. Is it nice?"

"What?" Raymond said, blinking.

"I've never been there before." Brown eyes said, giving me a once over. "I don't think I've caught your name."

Her voice compelled me to give up my name, to spill all of my secrets. I wanted to do what she asked.

Charmspeak. I thought. Focus on fire hair, she's a monster.

"I haven't caught yours either." I said.

Brown eyes frowned a little, as if surprised the charmspeak didn't work. "Bella." She replied. "These are my friends; Margret, Greta, Fiona, Juliet and Kelli."

"Jessica."

"Dianna Ross." I said, to see if my name would get any reaction from the monsters. It did.

Bella looked surprised, then interested.

"Listen, we have to go." Jessica said. "It was . . . nice . . . meeting you." She sounded strained, her eyes holding suppressed anger.

Bella's eyes flashed in anger, then she flashed Raymond a sweet smile. "These girls are so drab, come with us for a bit Raymond. We'll show you around, give you a tour."

Raymond took a step forwards eagerly but Jessica's hand snaked out and grabbed his arm. "No." She said, her voice different from what I've heard before, richer, powerful. "Stay here, they're empousia, they want to kill you. Snap out of it!"

Raymond blinked, the cloudy look from his eyes disappearing. "What?" He said in confusion.

Bella snarled, her claws flashed and I knew she was about to pounce on Jessica. "Wait!" I yelped, little too loud. Mortals stared at me funny and muttered something. "Aren't empousia the servants of Hecate?"

"Yes." Juliet said, obviously annoyed. She rolled her hazel eyes.

"Well I'm the daughter of Hecate." I said, bringing back my shoulders. "So technically you're _my_ servants."

"Lies." Bella snarled.

I gestured to my outfit. "Gift from my mom." I said. "And this, check it out." I pulled off my bracelet and it formed into a backpack. "Cool right?"

Greta looked nervous. "Is it true?" She asked Bella.

I put my bag to my wrist, letting it form into a bracelet again. "Of course it is. I can see through the mist you know, that's how I knew what you were."

"Hecate's children can control the mist." Bella said, eyeing me. "Prove you are a daughter of Hecate. Control the mist, use magic."

"Of course." I said with a smile. "Watch and be amazed as the famous Rossini performs her magic tricks!"

Bella snarled and Jessica looked at me, knowing where this was going. "Watch and be amazed as I make three demigods . . . disappear!"

We ran.

We hadn't gotten far when I heard Bella's voice, powerful and persuasive, yell: "Stop!"

I couldn't help it, I froze. Her voice was so compelling, I would do whatever she asked.

Raymond and Jessica kept running, I didn't understand at first but then it hit me. Jessica was immune and she had told Raymond not to listen to them. But she hadn't told me that.

I was tackled from behind and I screamed as I fell. Jessica looked back sharply. "Dianna!" She screamed. Then she glared at the empousia on my back. "Let her go Fiona."

Her voice was laced with power and I felt Fiona's grip loosen. That was all the encouragement I needed. I twisted and got up, spinning and stabbing Fiona with my dagger. She screamed and dissolved into golden monster dust.

"Dianna run!" Jessica yelled, her voice so compelling. I spun and ran, and ran. I didn't know where I was going but she had told me to run so I had to run. I didn't stop when Bella told me to, she was convincing sure, but not as convincing as Jessica, not as powerful. Then I heard Jessica scream and yell for help.

I stopped and spun, pulling out my dagger. I saw one of the empousia pinning her to the ground twenty feet away and I chucked my dagger, it spun through the air and got lodged in her forehead, causing her to turn into dust.

I felt pretty good until I was tackled around the waist. Bella leaned over me and smiled. "Don't scream." She said softly.

Her voice was soft, compelling. I shouldn't scream. I thought lazily. Why would I scream?

Fire hair. Fire hair. Fire hair. Fire hair.

I repeated that to myself, focus on the fire hair not the voice. Bella opened her mouth, her fangs coming close to my neck and I screamed, struggling. "Help!"

"Now, now." She murmured. "It's okay." She was whispering in my ear, the heat from her hair singing mine. I screamed in pain and her hair touched my cheek and she laughed.

Gods, even monsters have a prettier laugh then I do.

She sunk her teeth into my neck and I screamed.

Gods, it was the worst pain I ever felt, worse than the hellhounds claw in my shoulder. I felt like she was sucking the life right out of me. I struggled but she had my arms pinned. Her flame hair burned me and I screamed.

"No!" A voice shouted.

My vision dimmed, my head swam. I was barely aware of Bella raising her head and lunging at someone. I felt like I was floating on a cloud, my eyes started to close and then Jessica was shaking my shoulders, her blue eyes filled with fear and desperation.

"Dianna!" She yelled. "Dianna stay with me! No! Don't close your eyes! Don't you dare! Dianna! Dianna!"

But her voice held no power, no conviction, just fear and desperation. She clutched me, her eyes fierce and she screamed. "How could you?!"

Everything went dark.

**The End! Haha,no I'm kidding. That would be one of the worst endings ever. But I guess this counts as a cliff hanger so yeah, still a sorta bad ending. :) See you in 4 days and I hope you enjoyed. :)**


	12. Chapter 12: Time Fly's

**Here's Chapter 12 everyone! Enjoy!**

I was back in the cavern, the girl wept as she raised gold from the ground to add to the spire. I caught my breath as I looked in. The thing was huge, scaly dragon legs with a body made of gold and iron, oil served as blood and I could see his diamond heart. The only thing missing was the head.

_Soon._ Gaea purred. _Soon my eldest son wakes. You can never stop him._

"I will stop him." I said, clenching my fists. "I'll stop you from rising Gaea. You want me? Fine. But you'll wish you never chose me."

_Come north little hero._ She purred. _Get stronger, the stronger you are the better. Bring me the Blood of Olympus, so that I may finally wake._

"What is the Blood of Olympus?" I asked.

Gaea laughed and my heart pounded. I looked over at the girl as she fell to her knees, crying. I walked over and knelt by her. I knew it was a dream but I wanted to offer her some encouragement, give her something to look forwards to. "Stay strong." I said softly. "I'm coming to help you, we'll set you free."

The girl looked at me, her golden eyes flashing. I reached over and tried to give her a hug but I passed right through her. She raised her hand and the cavern rumbled, oil bubbling in the pit.

I closed my eyes and my dream switched, images came in and out of focus. First my dad was tied to a stake but then he morphed and became Harry, firing his bow at someone before rolling to the side to avoid being impaled by a sword. He jumped up and changed in midair to become Bella, lunging at me with her talons extended. She morphed into a wolf, pinning me down. The wolf growled out the oracles warning before morphing into Jessica screaming my name.

My eyes shot open.

I looked around, frowning at the white ceiling. I winced at the bright light, gods my head hurt. I looked around, panicked. Then I saw Jessica and Raymond standing in the corner, it looked like they were arguing. Jessica's eyes shone with tears and anger as she waved her arms. Raymond grabbed her hands and spoke softly to her. He hugged her and Jessica buried her face in his shoulder.

I waited until they pulled apart before clearing my throat. Jessica spun with a small gasp, her eyes lighting up. She ran over and gently grabbed my hand, surprising me. "Oh thank the gods." Jessica breathed. "I thought – we thought . . ."

I blinked in surprise, at a loss for words. I didn't expect the daughter of Aphrodite to get so emotional over me, I mean, we weren't that close.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

"What do you remember last?" Jessica asked softly.

"I – I was talking to someone . . . then nothing." I said, looking up at Jessica. "What happened?"

Jessica bit her lip and looked around the room. "Empousia." She said softly. "They attacked us, you – you almost died." She wiped her eyes. "We thought you would never wake up."

I squinted at Jessica, fighting a terrible headache. "How long was I out?" I croaked.

Jessica looked at Raymond who stepped forwards and responded. "A little over a week."

"A WEEK?!"

Jessica nodded and touched my arm. "You lost a lot of blood. We had to bring you to a mortal hospital. They didn't know when you would wake up, we've been sneaking you some nectar, here have a sip."

I took the nectar and swallowed a mouthful, feeling strength coming back to my limbs. "We should get going then." I said.

"Whoa." Jessica said. "I don't know if you can move yet."

"We've lost a lot of time already." I said. "I don't want to hold us back anymore."

"You will of you don't rest." Jessica said firmly. "You need it."

"But –"

"No buts Dianna. Don't make me charmspeak you into sleeping." Jessica said fiercely.

"Yes mother." I muttered.

"Speaking of mothers, what's this about Hecate being yours?" Jessica said, her eyebrows raised in curiosity.

I told them about sending a drachma to my mom before we left my house and how I met her at the crossroads. I told them about our conversation and the gifts she gave me.

"I didn't think the minor gods had kids." Raymond said thoughtfully.

"Why?" I asked, although I had to admit I didn't either for some reason.

"Well . . . I mean they don't have cabins at camp." Raymond said. "I thought that was because they don't have kids."

Jessica frowned. "Yea, where's Dianna going to stay when she gets back. She's not unclaimed anymore, she can't stay in Hermes cabin. At least, she shouldn't."

Raymond frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know, we'll have to talk to Chiron."

"Yea." I said. I took another sip of the nectar and handed it back to Jessica. "We'll figure everything out when we finish our quest."

Then the door opened and a nurse walked in. "You're up!" She said. "I'll have the doctor come and check you out now."

We waited and after the doctor checked me out he said that I should be fine after a day or so of rest. Jessica was adamant about me resting but Raymond and I wanted to continue. So we reached a compromise. I'd nap and when I woke up we'd leave.

I had a blissfully dreamless sleep and I woke up about twelve hours later, feeling invigorated. Jessica used her charmspeak to check me out and we headed to the train station, using the last of our mortal money to purchase three train tickets to Vancouver, Canada.

By the luck of the gods we made it in one piece and with no monster attacks. I slept on the train and didn't have any weird dreams. I told Jessica and Raymond about my weird dreams and we discussed the prophecy and other things. I noticed that Jessica and Raymond were holding hands and I smiled at the sight, happy for them.

But that didn't mean I couldn't tease them.

"So are you two finally together now or are you just holding hands for the fun of it." I teased with a grin.

Jessica smirked and Raymond blushed. Jessica kissed his cheek and smiled softly. "We're together."

"About time." I said, leaning back and folding my hands behind my head.

"It's about time you and Harry got together to." Jessica said, making my face burn as I thought about the kiss we shared.

"Awww." Jessica cooed and I tried to glare at her.

Jessica smiled knowingly before snuggling into Raymond's side and falling asleep, leaving the two of us awake.

For a while we sat in silence until Raymond said: "What do you think that thing in the pit is?"

"One of Gaea's sons. Maybe Krono's?" I said with a shrug. "Does Krono's have scaly dragon legs though?"

Raymond sighed. "No idea."

I sighed and looked at Raymond. "A half-blood of the eldest gods shall reach sixteen against all odds. How old are you?"

"Turned fifteen three months ago." Raymond muttered.

"Maybe this is it." I said. "Maybe this is the start of something big, it could even be the start of the great prophecy."

Raymond slouched in his seat, he looked dejected. "If this is the titans then . . . we may be doomed."

"Why?" I asked, I couldn't help but wonder if the son of Poseidon was giving up, without even trying.

"Never to return until the lands golden age." Raymond said, reciting my warning. "The Titan's ruling was also known as the golden age for some reason."

"Oh." I said softly. "In that case I don't think I want to come back."

"At least you're not going to die." Raymond said bitterly. "A heroes soul cursed blade shall reap."

"Hey, prophecies have double meanings, maybe you aren't the hero. There are lots of other heroes out there." I suggested. When Raymond still looked down I leaned forwards and said. "Listen, no matter what happens you'll always have Jessica and me, we'll help you through it."

Raymond grinned. "We'll help you to." He said. "We'll find the key to that cage and let you out."

I laughed, happy for the first time since leaving camp. "Gaea won't know what hit her."

We high fived and I felt like I had made a friend. I knew that whatever happened we would face it together, as a team.

Gaea would wish she hadn't messed with us.

**Not very exciting but I needed to put a little Dianna and Raymond friendship in there. Next Chapter's better. :) See ya!**


	13. Chapter 13: Canada

**Here you go guys, chapter thirteen. Some action in this chapter, I hope you enjoy. Happy reading!**

The train ride passed uneventfully. I tried to practice the mist like Hecate said but it was hard to believe that the man eating soup was holding a stick instead of a spoon or that the fake flower in the vases were real.

In the end we made it to Canada in one piece, we stepped out of the station and looked around. "So, anyone ever been to Vancouver?"

"Nope." Jessica answered, finishing braiding her hair. "Let's just walk around until we can find a map, or directions."

With no better plan we set off to the town. I walked the twisting streets and felt at ease as I watched people move around or scold their kids. I couldn't help but look wistfully at the little kids playing tag and I wondered how many were demigods.

Jessica noticed my look and grinned. "What, you want to play tag?"

I looked at her and smirked. "I could outrun you any day."

"Is that so Ross?" Jessica asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I think so Brooks." I teased.

Raymond smirked and put his hand on Jessica's shoulder, he leaned in and I averted my gaze so I wouldn't see them make out. Instead of kissing noises I heard Raymond whisper. "You're it."

Then he took off.

I was close behind. I heard Jessica yell Raymond's name in frustration before taking off after us. I laughed as dodged as she tried to tag me. Jessica dodged through an alley and as I turned the corner I saw her tackle Raymond, bringing them both to the ground laughing hysterically. Jessica sat on Raymond and kissed him. Then she stood up and said: "You're it." Before taking off again.

I ran past Raymond laughing and he chased after me. He grabbed my waist and threw me over his shoulder. "Raymond!" I laughed, struggling slightly.

He laughed and threw me into a pile of hay. I sat up indignantly and he smirked. "You're it."

"I'll get you for this." I warned as he took off.

I got up and sprinted after him, I saw where he was going and I ducked through an alley to intercept him. But I crashed into someone and sent us both sprawling, their groceries spilling everywhere.

"I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed, crawling around and picking everything up. "I wasn't looking and I was chasing my friend and I'm so sorry!"

They hadn't moved or said a word and I looked up at them guiltily before freezing in shock. "_Daniel?_" I gasped.

"Dianna?" Daniel said.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Me? What are you doing here?" Daniel asked. "Why are you wearing the same clothes as the last time I saw you? And why do you have hay in your hair?" He studied me and gasped. "What happened to you?" He asked, reaching out hesitantly towards the bandages covering my neck and part of my cheek. The ambrosia was healing the burns slowly but I wanted to keep them covered.

I looked at Daniel, he was dressed in slacks and a buttoned up beige shirt that had some dirt stains from falling. His brown eyes were wide in shock, surprise and worry.

My face burned as I shoved groceries back into the bag. "I'm fine. I'm traveling with my friends." I muttered. "I got hay in my hair because my friend thought it would be funny to dump me in some hay."

Daniel looked amused as he reached out and began to pick the hay from my hair. "Where are you heading to?" He asked.

I figured there was no harm in telling a mortal so I said. "Alaska."

Daniel nodded as I put the last of the groceries into his bag. "Sorry again for squashing all of your food and knocking you to the ground." I said, handing over his bags.

"Don't worry about it." Daniel said waving his hand. He studied me. "What happened to your neck?" He asked.

I looked away from him and chewed my lip. "Um . . ."

"Did – did someone hurt you Dianna?" Daniel asked, I could feel him starring at my face and I could sense his worry.

"I'm fine." I insisted, I knew he wasn't going to drop it so I decided to tell him a watered down version of the truth. "Not everyone was as nice as you in Minnesota." I mumbled.

His eyes widened in shock and anger. "Gods." He mumbled, looking away from me. I blinked in surprise at his wording. "I'm sorry Dianna."

I shrugged, wanting to change the subject. "So um . . . what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I live here." Daniel said. "Just outside of town with my parents."

I smiled, I had to admit I didn't expect him to live here, then again I hadn't expected to see him again. "Anyways, I should get going. See you."

"Bye Dianna." Daniel said with a smile.

I walked down the street and frowned thoughtfully, wondering where Jessica and Raymond went. _Probably making out in an alley._ I thought with a smirk.

My smile died when my path was blocked by a giant. Not really a giant but an eight foot tall dude with red skin and giant muscles, tattoos covering his arms and chest, he looked more like an ogre then anything.

He grinned as he saw me. I swallowed and backed up quickly but his hand grabbed my arm in a death grip. "Dianna Ross." He said, his voice deep. He looked me up and down. "Not much meat on your bones but you should make for a delicious breakfast."

I stared at him and grabbed the hilt of my knife. I knew that even in my weakened state that I could take one ogre. "Sorry man, I know breakfast is the most important meal of the day but you're gonna have to skip a meal."

I yanked out my knife and stabbed him in the chest, he bellowed and exploded into golden dust. I immediately heard an angry roar and three more ogres ran at me. _Uh oh_ I thought. I knew I couldn't take on that many, maybe at top strength, but I was still a little woozy from the blood loss and tired, all that running wore me out. I knew that the best course of action would be to run, but that turning my back on these ogres could be a fatal mistake.

I backed up quickly, opening my mouth to yell for Raymond and Jessica when I bumped into someone. I jumped and spun, relaxing when I saw Daniel.

"Get behind me." I said at the same time as Daniel.

I frowned at him and he frowned at me, before looking at the knife in my hand. "You're a demigod." He guessed.

"Are you a demigod?" I asked.

"Nope." Daniel said. "I – look out!"

Daniel knocked me out of the way as a cannonball whizzed by, crashing into a house and setting off a mini explosion. As I fell I noticed with dread that two more ogres had come around back to surround us.

It was five ogres versus me and Daniel and all we had was my knife. We were screwed, I figured my best bet was to call Raymond and Jessica for help but the ogres wouldn't let me talk.

They hurled more cannonballs at us, so fast I barely had time to dodge. I was knocked off my feet by the explosion and I rolled across the street.

"What are these things?!" I shouted to Daniel.

"Laistrygonian giants!" He yelled back, picking himself up off the ground.

"Lay–what now?"

"Cannibals!" Daniel shouted, sounding exasperated.

"Oh." I said softly.

I got up and heard a crunch behind me, I spun and ducked, the meaty hand going over my head. I lunged forwards, burying my dagger in the ogres chest. He exploded into gold powder I could hear the other ogres oh and awe at the 'pretty dust'. I staggered forwards, trying to regain my balance and fight for my breath. Gods I hated empousai, why'd they have to suck my blood? Blood loss sucked.

"Dianna look out!" Daniel shouted.

I spun and saw a cannonball hurtling straight towards me and I knew I couldn't dodge in time, not only because I didn't have my balance but also because it was hurling towards me at the speed of sound. Then something smacked into me hard and sent me sprawling. I rolled over and almost screamed when I saw a cheetah.

I fumbled my knife wondering how on earth it had gotten there, then it leaped at an ogre, shredding it with its claws. My mouth dropped open and I sat there, dumbfounded.

"Dianna!" I heard someone shout and I looked over my shoulder to see an ogre almost on top of me. I rolled to the side and it barreled past, stumbling to a halt before spinning around.

I got up and clutched my knife tightly, backing up slowly. The ogre lunged and I jumped to the side. I saw Jessica running towards me and another ogre coming to my right. That left out throwing my dagger, no way I could retrieve it in time to fight the other ogre before it got to me.

I ran at the ogre and at the last second I slid underneath its belly, spinning and stabbing it in the leg. It roared and spun, backhanding me. Instantly the air left my lungs with a whoosh and I flew backwards, crashing into the building across the road. I swear I heard something crack.

Black spots danced in my vision and I saw an ogre picking up a cannonball and aiming it at me. I gripped the windowsill and hauled myself to my feet. My dagger was gone and I saw the giant hurl the cannonball.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. I saw Jessica fighting two ogres with her knife and I saw Raymond stab one in the gut and look over when Jessica screamed my name. Daniel was nowhere in sight.

FOOMP!

Something smacked into me and knocked me onto the ground. I involuntarily cried out when something landed on my ribs, flinching in discomfort. I felt a blast of hot air over me and someone above me flinch. Then they rolled off and I looked up to see Daniel's face covered in soot.

"You okay?" He asked.

I nodded, then I saw the ogre hefting another cannonball. "Daniel!" I shouted as the ogre threw it.

Then the weirdest thing happened. And yes I mean the weirdest, as in weirder then Gods and a monster made out of gold and girls with fire hair that like to drink blood. Daniel changed, in the blink of an eye he went from human to bald eagle and he gripped my arms, soaring into the sky and out of harm's way.

He set me down on the edge of the street and flew into battle, scratching the ogres eyes out and allowing Jessica and Raymond to cut them down. I struggled to my feet and saw Jessica clutching her arm, her eyes filled with tears. Raymond ran over to her and I began to hobble over.

Then Daniel landed next to me, changing back into human. I stared at him in shock. "Who are you?" I whispered, my voice filled with shock, disbelief and maybe a little bit of horror.

Daniel looked sad, maybe even a little guilty. "I'll explain everything." He promised me. He let me use him as a crutch as I hobbled over to my friends, my arm wrapped over my stomach. Bruised ribs, maybe even cracked. It hurt like Hades and it made my breathing sound laboured. "I'll take you guys to my house."

"Why should I trust you?" I said.

I knew that wasn't fair of me, he had just saved my life more times then I could count. But I was disturbed, I could see through the mist perfectly. How could I not see what he was?

Daniel looked like he was in pain. "Please Dianna." He begged. "I would never hurt you. I promise I'll explain everything to you."

I looked Daniel in the eye, he looked so sad, his brown eyes pleading with me. I thought he was sincere, I was sure he was telling the truth, but something held me back.

I couldn't help but wonder if he was a monster. That thought made me immensely sad. He said he wasn't a demigod, so what was he?

**I think we all know what he is hmm. Until next time, bye!**


	14. Chapter 14: The Zhang's

**Here's Chapter 14 guys! I hope you enjoy this one :) **

When we made it to Raymond and Jessica I asked if Jessica was okay, her right arm seemed hunched up, like she was frozen in a shrug.

"Her arm's dislocated, I can fix it though." Raymond said. "What about you?"

"Bruised ribs, but I'll be fine." I said, waving away their concern.

Then Raymond looked at Daniel, almost warily. "Who are you?" He asked, he looked at me. "Do you know him?"

"I met him in Minnesota." I replied. "He lives here. I met him when I was trying to figure out where we were and I sorta ran into him a little while ago. Literally."

"I'm Daniel Zhang." He replied. "Listen, I live outside of town, my family can get you patched up there. And then I'll explain everything."

"What do you mean, explain?" Jessica asked.

"He knows." I replied. "He saw my knife and asked if I was a demigod. He knew what those monsters were, the lay something's."

Daniel chuckled. "Laistrygonian giants." He corrected. "They're cannibals, they live here in the north. I've never run into them before but I know about them."

"Are you a demigod?" Raymond asked, nervously gripping the hilt of his sword. Jessica played with her necklace, fingering the clay beads.

"No." Daniel replied. "I promise I'll explain but it's not safe out here. We have ambrosia and nectar at my house. You can have showers and food."

I cleared my throat. "Um, I kinda squished your groceries."

Daniel shrugged. "We still have food, I'm sure they'll understand."

"They'll?"

"My parents." Daniel said.

While they spoke I looked around for my knife, it was by Daniel's squished and muddy groceries so I slowly walked over and knelt, retrieving my knife. I found a surviving apple and picked it up before turning around. "I found a survivor." I said with a grin, chucking him the apple. Daniel laughed and caught it.

"We should get going." Daniel said. "That is, if you want to?"

Raymond and Jessica looked at me, asking for my opinion. I looked over at Daniel, wondering if we could trust him. I didn't know him for that long but he had saved my life and it seemed like he generally cared. I doubted he'd lead me into a trap.

I nodded. "Let's go."

Raymond and Jessica seemed hesitant but they followed Daniel down the street after Raymond popped Jessica's arm into place. I made her a makeshift sling with the bottom of my dress – the same one my mother gave to me – and we set off, following Daniel.

. . .

We were attacked once more before reaching Daniel's house. Another group of ogres approached and I threw my knife at the leader, the blade sinking into his forehead and making him disintegrate. Raymond pulled out his sword and concentrated.

With a defiant yell Raymond made the sewer water come up, it swirled around in the air before bending and hitting another ogre, knocking it back into the last one. At least I thought it was the last one, I was wrong.

"Here." Jessica said, handing me her dagger. "Throw this and kill one."

I nodded and turned the dagger around in my hands, it was a little heavier then I was used to but I was confident I could hit it. I threw the dagger and it sunk into the ogres chest. He looked down before exploding into dust.

"Pretty." A deep voice said behind us.

I spun around and saw another ogre standing beside a hellhound the size of horse. "J – Jessica." I stuttered, my eyes on the hellhound. I hated hellhounds, my shoulder throbbed remembering the old wound.

It growled and I realised we were both weaponless. The hellhound crouched down, eyeing Jessica and getting ready to pounce.

"Jessica run!" I screamed, lunging for her and knocking her out of the way as the hellhound pounced. It crashed into me and sent us both rolling.

"Jessica?!" Raymond yelled, spinning around as the ogre disintegrated.

The hellhound bent it's head and bit the back of my dress, straitening up, me dangling from its mouth. My arm was bleeding heavily from a long gash from its claw. I screamed in rage and fear, thrashing in the hellhounds grip as it growled and shook me back and forth. My arm throbbed.

"Dianna!" Jessica yelled, I saw her dodge a cannonball and a blast of water intercepting another one.

The hellhound turned and began to run off, I began to panic. I needed a weapon to fight it, I closed my eyes. _I am a daughter of Hecate, I can use magic._

"_People see what they want to see."_

Well, I wanted to see a weapon in my hand. I closed my eyes and concentrated so hard I began to sweat, imagining a dagger in my hand. Then – when that didn't work – I imagined myself with daggers on my hips, decked out for battle.

The mist swirled around me and the hellhound dropped me in shock. I rolled when I landed, getting up and spinning towards the hellhound. Then I looked down and yelped in shock.

I was in a different outfit, a belt of throwing knives wrapping around my waist, there was a dagger in my boot and a quiver with a bow on my back, two swords on my waist. My outfit was a silver camouflage, hugging my body, my hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail and the bronze bracelet was still on my arm. It was all surprisingly lightweight.

"_I left you a gift."_

Wow. I would have to make a giant sacrifice to my mother to thank her. I pulled out a throwing knife and chucked it at the hellhound, it yelped as it sunk into its shoulder. It leapt at me and I rolled to the side, yanking the dagger out of my boot and slashing the hounds muzzle. It yelped and skidded to a halt as I grabbed it's coarse fur and hauled myself onto it's back. I brought my dagger up and stabbed it between the hellhound's shoulder blades, causing it to disintegrate with a howl. I dropped to the ground, monster dust raining down on me. I sheathed my dagger and picked up my throwing knife, I was about to put it away when I noticed something odd about it. The dagger was three colours all swirled together; bronze, gold and black.

"Wow." I said, sheathing it. "Thank you mother."

The moment my dagger was back the mist enveloped me again, when it dispersed I was back in my normal week old clothes.

I ripped off more of my dress and tried to wrap up my arm, but the cut was too long.

I walked back to the others, clutching my arm, trying to slow the bleeding. I made it back and saw Raymond duck a club and stab the final ogre in the gut, disintegrating it.

I stumbled over a club and looked at Daniel. "How much farther?"

"Another mile or two." He said, standing on his toes and searching for more enemies. I saw shallow claw marks on Daniel's chest that bled a bit but otherwise he seemed fine.

I looked around for my knife but couldn't find it. "Hey, where's my knife?"

Raymond looked guilty. "Um . . . it sorta got washed away."

"Raymond!" I yelled. I was angry and sad, that knife had been Christian's, the last thing I had of him. No, not the last, there was still his bush. And I wasn't weaponless thanks to mom's cool gift. "It's okay I guess." I grumbled.

Raymond smirked a little and shrugged as if to say, my bad.

I walked over to Daniel and saw some hay in his hair and I smirked a little. I walked over and picked out a strand.

"Why do you have hay in your hair?" I asked.

Daniel grinned at me. "Well, one of the ogres thought it would be funny to dump me in a pile of hay."

I laughed softly and picked out another strand. "We should get moving." I said. "Lead the way, unless you're lost." I teased.

Daniel chuckled. "Follow me." He said.

. . .

"You said you lived in a house, not a mansion."

I stared up at Daniel's 'house'. It was three stories high with a sort of balcony at the top, the windows glowed softly, lighting up the surrounding area. Dusk was settling, making the forest surrounding us creepier, the shadows lengthening. Daniel led the way to the front porch and reached inside his pocket for his key, he opened the door and stepped inside yelling. "I'm home!"

"In the kitchen honey!" A woman's voice yelled.

I stayed on the porch, peering over Daniel's shoulder into the house. I could see stairs heading upwards and a hallway leading off the kitchen and dining room. I could see a sitting room to the right, a fire roaring in the fireplace. It felt cozy but I was hesitant to enter.

"Coming?" Daniel asked softly.

"Um . . . I don't want to bleed on your floor." I said, shuffling my feet.

Daniel smiled softly. "Don't worry about it." He said.

I entered slowly and Raymond followed, Jessica coming in last and closing the door.

"Mom! I brought friends!"

"Did you get the groceries?" The woman yelled from the end of the hall.

"Um . . ." Daniel said. I smiled softly, knowing he had lost the apple.

A woman stepped out of the kitchen, she had long black hair and warm brown eyes, she was wearing an apron covered in flour and she was dusting her hands off. She looked like she was in her early thirties. "What do you mean um?" She asked. Then she spotted us and her eyes widened.

"Hi." I said, waving. My face burned as she studied us in shock, her eyes landing on Raymond's sword.

"Daniel who are they?" She asked, a warning in her voice.

"Friends." Daniel said. "And they need help."

"Hi." Jessica said with a smile. "I'm Jessica. Sorry if we're causing any trouble. If you want we'll leave and you won't hear from us again. But your son Daniel said he could help us and we're a little curious to know how you know about the Gods."

The woman glared at Daniel. "What did I tell you about getting involved with people from camp?" She said sternly.

I shuffled nervously, holding the makeshift bandage on my arm in place. I noticed Raymond reach up to nervously play with the beads around his neck.

"What rank are you?" The woman asked.

"Um . . ." I said. I lifted my arm and sniffed myself. "About a seven."

Jessica and Daniel laughed while Raymond smacked me softly. "No stupid." He said with a smile. "She's talking about rank, position in leadership. Like at the roman camp."

"Oh." I said, my face burning.

"Roman camp?" She echoed.

"We're from Camp Half-Blood." I piped up.

"Jessica Brooks, daughter of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty." Jessica introduced herself.

"Dianna Ross, daughter of Hecate, goddess of the mist, magic and crossroads." I said, following Jessica's example.

"Raymond Rodriguez, son of Poseidon, god of the sea." Raymond said with a nod.

The woman observed us. "Greek? We've only known Roman's."

"If you don't mind us asking, how?" Raymond said.

"We're descendants of Poseidon." Daniel's mom said.

"D – descendants?" I stammered. I couldn't imagine living long enough to have kids.

"Yes." She answered. "I'm Marian Zhang, come on, let's get you patched up and fed, I'm sure you're hungry." When we nodded Marian looked up. "Gerald? We have visitors! Get the ambrosia and nectar!"

"What?" A man yelled. "Is Daniel okay?"

"He's okay Gerald!" Marian yelled.

"Then why do we . . . oh." Gerald said, sounding much closer. I looked up and saw a tall man with dark brown hair and dark blue eyes. He stood at the top of the stairs and nodded at me before turning to get the supplies.

"Come on in. You don't have to stand in the doorframe."

She led us into the room with the fireplace and I sighed as it warmed me up. I closed my eyes, the flames reminding me of being a kid again. I opened my eyes and saw Daniel's dad walk in with a first aid kit. He fed me some ambrosia while he stitched up my arm to help it heal. I mumbled a thanks before he moved onto Jessica, who was dozing on Raymond. I took a sip of nectar, smiling at the taste of hot chocolate. It reminded me of snowball fights before camp and building snowmen with my dad.

Then my eyes filled with tears as I remembered that Gaea had kidnapped him and that I may never see him again.

"You okay?" Daniel asked softly, sitting beside me.

"Yeah." I whispered, wiping away the stray tears. "Fine."

"Mom?" A teenager said, walking in. She was Asian to, with long black hair and warm brown eyes, she had one a white dress that trailed against the floor, she looked like she was eighteen or nineteen. "The soup is boiling."

Marian got up and nodded at her daughter. "Let's go get it."

"Who's that?" I whispered.

"That's my older sister." Daniel whispered. "Although she's not as nice as she looks."

"Hey!" I protested, smacking his shoulder lightly.

Daniel smirked. "Trust me, look's can be deceiving. _Never_ get on her bad side. You'll get grounded for a month."

I snorted, then covered my mouth as Daniel laughed.

"Shut up!" I hissed, my face burning. He kept laughing so I mock threatened. "If you don't stop laughing your sister will be the least of your worries."

Daniel smirked. "Oh really?"

I analysed Daniel, he looked ready for whatever I could dish out. He was expecting me to lash out or tackle him, he was expecting a trick. So I would use that against him.

"_People see what they want to see."_

I finally understood.

I imagined a spider on Daniel's hand, a nice big one. I could almost see it on his hand, big and black and hairy, I imagined it crawling up his arm and I imagined what it would look like through Daniel's eyes. He'd look down and see a giant spider on his arm, starring up at him with its beady little eyes.

Daniel followed my gaze to his arm and yelped in surprise, flinging his arm up to try and shake the 'spider' off.

I started laughing so hard I lost my concentration and the spider dissolved. Tears sprung in my eyes and I grabbed my stomach, bent double. It hurt to laugh but at the same time it felt good, I was almost hysterical.

"It's not funny!" Daniel reported, his face burning. "I hate spiders!"

"Y – Your face!" I managed to gasp out. I giggled. "Oh, that's rich."

Daniel looked around for the spider warily. Turning around, his eyes scanning the floor nervously.

"Sure you're not a descendant of Athena?" I asked, my eyes sparkling.

"Oh shut up." Daniel reported. He looked around again and said. "Do you see it anywhere?"

I wiped the tears from my eyes. "It wasn't real." I said.

"What do you mean it wasn't real?" Daniel reported. "I could feel it on my arm. It was huge!"

I looked at him, trying to hold back my laughter. "I told you your sister would be the least of your worries."

Daniel's eyes widened in shock. "It was you? You made the spider?"

I nodded. "Watch." I said.

It was easier this time, the spider appeared on the floor and scampered towards Daniel, he leapt back and said. "Okay! Okay I believe you!"

I laughed and made the spider dissolve. Daniel looked at me, his eyes huge. "How did you do that?" He asked.

"I'm a daughter of Hecate, goddess of magic." I said dramatically. "The famous Rossini! My most famous trick –" I paused for dramatic effect "making three demigods . . . disappear!"

Raymond rolled his eyes. "I'm not running Ross."

I pretended to pout. "You're no fun." I whined.

Jessica laughed lightly.

"Hey guys, guess what?" I asked.

"What?" Raymond said.

"Good guess!"

Raymond groaned.

"No I'm serious." I said. "You know how my mom's Hecate? I can manipulate the mist. Watch and be amazed."

I looked at Jessica and smirked, imagining a zit on the end of her nose. It suddenly materialised and Jessica gasped, covering her nose. Then she glared at me. "Dianna!"

I laughed and she smirked. "Two can play at that game."

Uh oh.

I plugged my ears. "I can't hear you!" I said.

'Can't plug your ears forever.' She mouthed.

'I'll give you more zits.' I mouthed back.

She glared and I glared back, full force.

Then Marian came back in, balancing trays. She gave us all some soup and I devoured mine. After three more bowls my eyes started to droop.

"You guys can use the guest rooms upstairs." Marian said. "We can talk tomorrow when you're all rested up."

But I had no strength to get up, I curled up in front of the fireplace and instantly fell asleep. I had a good few hours of sleep before my worst nightmare yet.

**And Chapter 14! See ya'll in 4 days.**


	15. Chapter 15: Broken

**Sorr for the lateness of this update, I almost forgot I had to post a chapter today, haha. Anyway, here's chapter 14! Enjoy!**

I was starring at my dad, he looked beaten up and bloodied, his head hung low to his chest. There were no guards, they knew he couldn't escape. I sobbed, covering my mouth.

Then he raised his head and I knew, I just knew he'd come out of it okay. His blue eyes were defiant, a sure sign he wouldn't let those monsters break his will. I thought I even saw a ghost of a smile on his face as his eyes locked on something beside me and it brought tears to my eyes.

I stepped forwards and turned, trying to see what he saw, and it took my breath away. It was _me._ I was curled up by the fire place, a blanket over me and a pillow under my head. Jessica was cuddling with Raymond on the couch, his arms wrapped around her protectively in his sleep. I frowned, wondering why they didn't go to the guest bedrooms. Then I smiled when I realised they wouldn't leave me.

"Stay strong Dianna." My dad whispered. "I am so proud of you, my little girl is all grown up now." A tear slipped down his cheek. "My only wish is that we can meet again in Elysium."

"Elysium?!" I echoed. "Dad no! You can't die! I won't let you!"

My father looked at me like he could actually see me, he frowned and then looked at the image of me, frowning in concern. I looked over, barely suppressing my panic. Vision me was twitching and muttering in my sleep. I could only make out some of what Vision me was saying.

"Nooo." Vision me moaned. "Dad! . . . can't die! I won't . . ." Then I sobbed in my sleep, tears pouring down my face.

I reached up and touched my face, not at all surprised to feel the wetness of tears. I walked up to my father, wanting to hug him one last time, even if I would pass right through him.

"I love you Daddy." I whispered, hugging him. My dream arms passed through him and I started to bawl, knowing I might never touch him again.

_Watch your daughter Alexander._ Gaea said, and my father tensed. _She is starting to break, that foolish defiance is finally coming to an end. Soon she will come to me, and soon I shall wake._

"You'll never break my daughter." My father said, his head was held high, and his eyes shone with pride. "She is stronger than you think Gaea. She will stop you from rising. Dianna is stronger than I ever imagined, she's just like her mother."

My heart pricked at his praise and I smiled, tears in my eyes.

Gaea just laughed. _Her mother, the goddess of the crossroads._ Gaea murmured. _Dianna stands at a crossroads now, she can come to save you or continue on her fools quest. If she continues on her way to Alaska now you shall die, but if she turns herself in I shall let you walk free. You will tread lightly on the Earth._

I gasped softly, covering my mouth. I couldn't let my father die, I just _couldn't_. He was all I had, Jessica and Raymond would have to continue the quest without me.

"Dianna wouldn't turn herself in." My father replied. "She knows that I would not want to live to see the end of the world."

His words were like a punch in the gut. I stared at him, uncertain. I knew he was right, he would never want to live in that world. But I couldn't let him die, I just couldn't, he was my father, the only blood family I had left. It was always the two of us against the world.

I began to sob, starring at my father, trying to memorise him.

_I think you're wrong._ Gaea purred. _You forget about the love a child has for a parent. Our children will do anything for us._

"No." Alexander said. "It should be the other way around. I'm willing to do anything for my daughter, even sacrificing my life. I don't want her to die for me, she knows that."

I do now.

I wiped my eyes and stared at my father. "I understand." I whispered. "And I'm so sorry. I'll make you proud father, I promise."

_You'd let your father die?_ Gaea asked and I jumped, for some foolish reason I thought she didn't know I was there.

I looked at my dad, chained, still starring at the image of my sleeping. I knew he wouldn't be proud of me if I turned myself in, I was all he had. I still had my friends.

But it was more than that, it was the oracle's warning. She warned me about this: _For you will suffer a great loss._

"He wouldn't want me to die for him." I whispered. "I'm doing this for him."

_Then watch, see what your silly defiance causes. This changes nothing Dianna Ross, I will have your blood, and I shall wake._

Then a Cyclopes came in, a large steel sword in his hand.

"No!" I shouted, trying to stand in front of my father to protect him, but I knew it was useless. I wasn't there, I couldn't protect him, I caused this. It was my fault.

_Kill him!_ Gaea said.

"Nooooooo!" I screamed as the sword passed harmlessly though me and cut into him, ripping him apart. I spun and stared at him, the blade him severed him, but hadn't killed him. He would bleed out quickly, but he would suffer.

"Daddy!" I screamed. "Father!"

I tried to clutch his shoulders, tried to stop the blood. But I couldn't touch him. I could smell the blood, the fumes making me nauseas. I couldn't bring myself to look at the gruesome wound.

"No!" I shouted. "Please! You can't die! FATHER!"

The whole time I screamed and begged and pleaded Gaea laughed. I can't tell you when it happened but after a while I realised he was dead.

_This is what your defiance has caused. Turn yourself in and your friends ends shall be quick._

"I'll kill you!" I screamed, tears pouring down my cheeks. My heart felt like it was cracking, falling to pieces in my chest. I collapsed, drowning in my own sorrow.

I doubted even Raymond could swim through this.

My eyes snapped open and I realised I was being shaken. I panicked for a second, thrashing in their grip and trying to catch my breath so I could scream. But I was sobbing too hard to do anything, my vision was to blurry with tears to see who was shaking me.

"Dianna what's wrong?" Someone whispered in my ear.

I knew that voice. I calmed down, no longer struggling and buried my face in their chest, sobbing. Each sob hurt my chest and I felt myself sinking into what seemed like a bottomless pit of despair.

Then a pair of arms wrapped around me, keeping me anchored. I sobbed into their shirt and they whispered. "What's wrong?"

It was Daniel. I wanted to tell him but I couldn't, I just couldn't stop crying. I knew I was freaking him out but every time I closed my eyes I saw my father dying, it was on repeat, the sword, the blood, my screams, Gaea's laughter. All like some awful movie. But I was too ashamed in myself to open my eyes, I couldn't bear to look at my own reflection, I loathed myself. I was the one that deserved to die, not my father.

I sobbed once more, it was loud and bitter. I kept crying, but silently now, shaking like a leaf in Daniel's grip.

It should have been me.

It should have been me.

"What should have been you?" Daniel asked softly and I realised I was mumbling it under my breath, like a chant. I stopped mumbling and fell silent. I looked up at him, my eyes wet with tears. Then I looked out the window and saw pitch black.

"Go back to sleep." Daniel said. "You need it."

He started to get up but I grabbed his arm in a death grip. "Don't leave me." I whimpered, my voice breaking. I had just seen my father die, I felt like if I let my friends out of my sight then Gaea would kill them to.

Daniel's eyes softened. "Of course." He settled down and I leaned into him, closing my eyes. It took a while for me to fall asleep.

. . .

All I could see was him dying, over and over. I couldn't move, couldn't wake up, it was a nightmare. When I woke up again I gasped for air, my eyes burning from crying all night.

Then I frowned, a pair of arms was wrapped around me, pinning me against someone. My face burned as I realised it was Daniel. But the blush didn't last long, I needed to be held.

I heard him snoring softly and I buried my face in his chest, letting the tears flow as I remembered getting annoyed by my dad snoring. Now I missed it, I missed _him_.

It's funny how you never appreciate what you have until it's gone. It's then you remember it was the little things that mattered the most.

My father's snores, the twinkle in his eyes, his laugh, the way being in his arms made me feel safe, the trust in his eyes when he strapped himself to the wheel, the way he preformed his magic trick, the half smile I'd inherited from him, his untameable curly black hair that I had gotten.

I sobbed softly as I remembered the time he tried to comb my hair after we went swimming. The comb snapped in half and he laughed, ruffling my hair and making it more tangled. Since then, every time I had a bad hair day he would joke around and say that Hairzilla was attacking and warn me to hide the combs. I missed his stupid jokes.

I sobbed, curling my hands into fists in Daniel's shirt, it was then that I knew: Gaea had finally broken me.

**So this is part of the reason why I labled this angst, not all but part. Perpare for this story to bounce a bit, from happy to sad quickly. Anyway I hoped you enjoyed and I have a request, sort of. Earlier I was asked to add earthborn and I have (in later chapters) so I was thinking you could send in monster requests, you want to see a certain monster and I shall try to add it. You can review the monster or PM me if you want, I only have a limited monster perspective and my internet won't let me use google :( and I lost my Ipod. So yeah, I'm open to suggestions to the story. Later!**


	16. Chapter 16: Pain and Pancakes

**So here's Chapter 16! This is probably the longest chapter I've made but there's no fighting monsters, that's saved for later chapters. Now, I duno how small this writing is but on the edit doc it's really tiny and I don't know how to fix it. If it's not tiny just npretned I never wrote this but if it is, sorry. Anyway, enjoy!  
><strong>

Daniel woke up later, I didn't know how long I had been crying for. He tightened his grip on me, shifting so that we were sitting up. He wrapped the blanket around my shoulders, tightening it.

"It's okay." He whispered. "It's okay Dianna. It's over, you're okay."

His comforting words only made me feel worse. It was over, he was dead. I had always just _assumed_ I would see him again. I held onto the hope at camp that I would survive the war and go home. He was my lifeline, it had always been us against the world, the dynamic duo, partners in crime, he was my father, he was my best friend.

He was dead.

I would have been able to live with that fact if I couldn't have saved him, if his death wasn't my fault. But the guilt was tearing me to shreds, the guilt and the threat she had made. I didn't want my friends getting hurt, I couldn't bear it if they died.

"It's not okay." I sobbed.

"Can you tell me what's wrong?" Daniel asked softly.

"I –" I broke off with a sob, wondering how to tell him I had gotten my father killed. He would hate me, they would all hate me. How could I have let him die?

"Do you want me to wake up Jessica and Raymond?" Daniel asked.

I wanted to say yes, but I couldn't, they needed the sleep. It wouldn't be fair to them. So I shook my head no.

So he just held me, not saying a single word. It felt like years – but was probably only minutes – before I ran out of tears. I still wanted to cry but I physically couldn't, my throat was sore from sobbing and I sniffled. I curled up on Daniel, trying to hide from the pain.

"Dianna." Daniel whispered. "Did you . . . did you have a bad dream or something?"

"It wasn't just a dream." I whispered. "It was real. Demigods have dreams that show us what's happening in a certain place at the time we're sleeping. And I saw –" My voice broke.

"What did you see?" Daniel whispered. He sounded concerned and maybe even a little nervous.

"He's gone." I managed to choke out.

"Who's gone?" Daniel asked. "Your boyfriend?"

I shook my head. I tried to talk but my throat closed up, I couldn't share it. Because then it would be real, it would make it real and I couldn't deal with that.

I pulled back, wiping my eyes. I looked up and saw Daniel's brown eyes filled with concern. I didn't do anything to make him think I was okay, because I wasn't, and I doubted I ever would be again.

Instead I said: "Thanks for staying with me."

Daniel shrugged. "We're friends, right?"

I nodded. Sure I barely knew him, but he had saved my life, made me laughed and tried – key word there I still feel like shit – to comfort me. If that didn't make us friends I didn't know what did.

Then we just sat in silence, he let me wallow in my grief but he never moved, letting me know he was there if I needed a shoulder to cry on again. It was comforting.

Raymond woke up first, he was instantly awake. He looked panicked for a second, as if he couldn't remember where we were but he instantly calmed down. But his little jolt woke Jessica who mumbled and yawned. She stretched and opened her eyes, she turned and gave Raymond a quick kiss before sliding off of the couch.

I was jealous of Jessica, even just waking up she looked good. Then I felt ashamed in being jealous over little things when my father was dead.

"How long have you guys been up?" Jessica asked.

Daniel shrugged. "A while. I came down for a drink and noticed Dianna was awake, so we just talked while we waited for you to wake up."

I was grateful that he didn't mention my episode, I didn't want to talk about it yet, or at all.

"Why didn't you wake us up?" Raymond asked.

"You needed the sleep." Daniel said. "You guys were exhausted yesterday. I tried to convince Dianna to go back to sleep, but she's stubborn."

A ghost of a smile flickered on my face before dying.

"Well, not be ungrateful, but when's breakfast, I'm starved." Jessica said.

Raymond chuckled a little and nudged her.

Daniel grinned. "That's not ungrateful. But mom's still asleep since it's her day off work, so I'll have to cook."

"We'll help, right guys?" Jessica said cheerfully.

I nodded and Raymond shrugged like, sure why not. We followed Daniel into the kitchen, we had decided to make pancakes but in reality we only made a mess.

It all started when Daniel tripped.

It started out okay, I got the eggs for the batter, Raymond went out to milk the cows and Jessica got the butter. Daniel went to get the flour as Jessica and I lit the stove and got out everything we'd need to cook. Jessica grabbed a cup and filled it with water, leaning against the counter by me and sipping it. She eyed me as if she didn't know what to think about me. I panicked for a moment inside, if anyone could figure out my 'secret' she could.

Daniel came back in with a huge thing of flour and set it on the counter. Flour puffed out the top and he dramatically coughed and waved his hand in front of his face, making Jessica laugh and spill a bit of the water she was drinking.

Daniel scooped out the flour, getting the right measurements and turned around, walking over to me as I cracked the eggs and put them in the bowl.

It was really Jessica's fault.

Daniel slipped on the water she spilled and tried to regain his balance, he threw his arms out to the side and almost smacked me as I reached out to steady him. Instead the flour from his bowl flew right into my face.

I coughed as the flour particles flew around, waving my hand in front of my face as I tried not to gag on the flour in my mouth.

Daniel started laughing at my face, but his laughter was short lived. Jessica had been drinking her water when Daniel slipped and when she saw my face she did a spit take, the water smacking Daniel dead in the face. She covered her mouth to muffle her giggles.

I laughed and was struck by a great idea. I turned to the flour and grabbed a handful, throwing it in his face. Because it was already wet the flour stuck to him. Daniel coughed and I began to laugh so hard tears trailed through the flour on my face.

"Oh it's on." Daniel said. He grabbed Jessica's cup out of her hands and tipped it over my head. I froze up, my body seizing in shock as the ice cold water ran over my head and down my back. I shivered and Daniel scooped up some more flour, tipping it over my head.

He declared war.

I turned around and grabbed the egg I didn't get to use, I turned and saw him laughing with Jessica. I grinned and made it look like I was going to tease his hair but in reality I smacked the egg on his head, breaking it and rubbing it in.

Daniel froze and made a squeaking noise that had Jessica clutching her stomach from laughter. I smirked and pulled my hand away, flicking him in the face with yoke.

Daniel reached up and touched the yoke, he coated his hands in wet flour and then clapped, although my face happened to be in the way. Flour particles floated in the air and I coughed while Daniel smirked and Jessica gasped for breath. I jerked my head towards her with an evil grin that Daniel mimicked.

I turned around and mixed up the batter, not to perfection but just so that it as gooey enough to stay on her head but it was still a little runny. Then I turned and dumped the contents on her head while Daniel rubbed it all in.

Jessica made a sound like a cat with a hairball and froze up. We laughed and she threw some of it at us.

Then it became an all out war.

I don't remember how it happened but somehow I ended up behind a turned over chair with clumpy flour as ammo. I lobbed it at Daniel, who was using a pot as a shield while he stood by the flour and Jessica who was running around pelting us with dough. We were all laughing and making a mess, the walls were white with flour and the floors slippery with water.

It was then that Raymond walked in.

Everything stopped.

For an agonising three seconds we stood there, Raymond starring at us in shock, a bucket full of milk in each hand. Jessica had her arm cocked back, a glob ready to be chucked at Daniel. Daniel was heading back for more ammo, frozen with his hand in the sack of flour and I was recovering from a blow to the face, hence the reason Daniel needed more ammo.

It all unfroze when some of the wet flour fell off my face and hit the floor with a thunk.

"What are you doing?"

I exchanged a look with Daniel and Jessica and they nodded.

"GET HIM!"

We all pelted Raymond with our ammo. He managed to dodge Jessica's and Daniel's but mine hit him in the shoulder. He smirked and said. "It's on."

Then flour went flying and the air turned white for a second. When it cleared I was hit in the face with a blast of milk. I fell on my back, coughing and spluttering as someone dumped flour on me. I threw whatever I could get my hands on and the air stayed flour white for a while. I managed to get a hold of some of Jessica's hair goop and I jumped on someone's back, rubbing it into their face and hair. I knew it was Raymond when I got blasted with a weird mixture of milk, water and flour. I fell on the floor and Raymond sat on me, rubbing the goopy stuff in my face.

I laughed and tried to shove him off but I couldn't manage. Then someone dumped a load of flour on us, although Raymond took the brunt of the attack.

"What is going on here?"

Everyone froze when we heard Daniel's mother. I turned my head and saw her starring at us in shock. I wondered what she saw as I looked around the room. The kitchen was a disaster, flour everywhere. Raymond was sitting on top of me, Jessica stood over us with an empty bowl and Daniel was frozen in the process of untucking his shirt, flour slowly draining out of the untucked section, he looked sheepish.

"We were making pancakes."

It took all of my will not to laugh at that sentence. We were doing anything _but_ making pancakes.

"Daniel Michal Zhang!" Marian yelled. "This is not making pancakes! Yesterday you come home without the groceries and now I see this? You better clean up this mess young man!"

"Um, the groceries was sorta my fault." I piped up. "I crashed into him and then we were attacked by monsters."

"This was your fault to." Daniel pointed out.

"Was not!" I reported hotly. "You put the flour in my face first!"

Daniel put his arms up in surrender. "I slipped!" He protested. "And besides, if anyone's to blame it's Jessica."

"Me? What'd I do?" Jessica demanded.

"You spit water in Daniel's face!" I yelled.

"It was an accident!"

"You what?" Raymond said with a laugh.

Jessica ignored him, crossing her flour coated arms. "You threw flour in Daniel's face after that."

"Retaliation!"

"Enough!" Marian yelled. "I don't care about who did it, just clean up your mess! All of you."

"Yes ma'am." We all muttered as she turned and left.

Raymond stood up and turned on the sink. He willed the water to clean up the mess on the walls and even the ceiling, while we went around putting things away and straitening them.

It took us under ten minutes before the kitchen was looking cleaner than before. Raymond willed the place to be dry and by the time Marian came to see if we were cleaning we were putting the finishing touches on everything.

"I'm impressed." Marian said, leaning in the doorway. "Now, go shower, you guys are filthy. _I'll_ make you breakfast. Go on."

. . .

A shower sounded like a great idea, until you discovered the problem. There were four dirty kids and one shower.

"I'm going in first!"

"No I am!"

"Look at my hair! I need to go in first!"

I watched amused as they argued. As they fought over who got into the shower first I slowly inched towards it. Daniel pointed to his eggy hair when Jessica complained about hers and it took all of my will to not laugh.

Then Jessica smiled sweetly. "I'm going in the shower first."

Daniel's and Raymond's eyes glazed over and they nodded, I ignored her and slipped into the bathroom, closing and locking the door.

"What? Hey! Who's in the bathroom?" Jessica said.

"Where's Dianna?"

I turned on the shower and I heard everyone groan. "Come on!" Jessica said. Then: "Dianna let me in the shower." With her charmspeak.

"Nope!" I called. "You can't charmspeak me! Daughter of Hecate here!"

"Dianna!" Jessica yelled. "You get out here this instant!"

"Or what?" I called back innocently.

Worst. Mistake. Ever.

The shower water froze in the air before attacking me. "Raymond!" I shouted. I hopped into the bathtub as I was assaulted by freezing cold water. I could hear Raymond laughing and I decided that as long as it assaulted me I might as well use it to get clean. I used soap to clean myself and my clothes – hey they needed to get cleaned to – and shampooed my hair while Raymond threatened me with water. When I noticed I was clean in my reflection I called out.

"Okay! Just give me a second to grab a towel or something so I don't spill water everywhere!"

The water fell back into the tub and I turned off the shower. I pulled my bracelet off and riffled for my spare change of clothes, putting them on quickly.

"Dianna . . ." Raymond said, mock threatening.

"Where are the towels?" I called, actually searching for them now.

"Under the sink!" Daniel called.

"Found em!"

I grabbed a fuzzy one and began to dry my hair, stepping out of the bathroom with a grin. "Thanks Raymond." I said cheerfully.

I left them to fight over who got to shower next. I went into the kitchen to see if I could help with breakfast but the moment I saw what Marian was cooking I collapsed in a fit of giggles.

"What's so funny?" Marian asked.

"Pancakes." I laughed.

I composed myself and began to help her set the table before the outraged cry of: "Raymond Adam Rodriguez!"

"What's he up to?" Marian wondered.

"Probably turned the water cold on her." I replied with a shrug. "Or made it attack her like he did to me, being the son of Poseidon and all."

Marian smirked and shook her head. "He's so lucky his sisters at the market."

"The whole no groceries thing really was my fault." I said. "We were playing tag and then I ran into him, literally."

I ended up telling her everything, even my weird hallucination of Daniel changing shape.

"It was no hallucination." Marian said.

"Does that mean you can change shape to?" I asked.

Marian laughed. "Oh no, not me. I'm just a mortal, no, my children and husband can."

"How? I've never heard of such abilities."

"It's a gift from Poseidon." Marian said.

"How'd you know about the Roman camp?" I asked, hoping I wasn't prying too much.

"I better save that conversation for when your friends come down. It's a long one and I don't feel like repeating myself."

I nodded and once the table was set and breakfast was made we waited. Jessica came in next, grumbling and braiding her wet hair. Her clothes were drenched.

"I'll get you come new clothes, just a minute." Marian said, getting up and leaving.

"Raymond?"

"Raymond." Jessica agreed. "Thought it would be funny to make the water freezing cold."

"At least he didn't make the water attack you." I grumbled and Jessica laughed.

Marian came back and handed Jessica some clothes, Jessica left and Marian sat down. "Are you okay Dianna?" She asked.

"Yeah." I lied. "Why?"

"I saw you crying last night." Marian said.

"Oh." I said, chewing my lip. Did everyone see me crying? "I just had a nightmare, nothing to serious."

Gods, I was such a liar today.

Marian didn't look convinced but dropped it as Jessica came back in with her new clothes on. It was a plain cotton dress.

"Can I see the bag Dianna?" Jessica said.

"Dry it off first." I scoffed.

Jessica rolled her eyes and Marian took the clothes to hang up. "You have any wet clothes Dianna?"

"Oh, yeah. One sec."

I took off my bracelet and waited as it turned into a bag. I reached inside and pulled out my wet clothes. "Here you go." I put the bag on my wrist and it morphed into a bracelet.

"Neat trick." Marian observed.

I blinked. "You could see that?"

"I can see through the mist." Marian said.

_Just like dad._

I was instantly filled with pain and loss, my dream flooding back to me. I felt ashamed in having forgotten but I didn't regret it, it felt nice to have laughed, even if it was for only a little while.

Jessica must have felt my distress because she reached out and squeezed my hand reassuringly. "Don't worry." She said softly. "We'll find him."

_No we won't._ I thought bitterly, my eyes filling with tears. _He's dead._

Then Raymond walked in and Jessica let go of my hand, standing up and walking over to him, she punched him in the shoulder. Hard.

"Ow!" He complained. "What was that for?"

"That was for making the shower freezing." Jessica said fiercely. Then she grabbed his face and kissed him.

"And what was that for?" Raymond said with a smirk.

Jessica smiled and teased his hair. "You know what." She said softly. "Thank you."

Raymond kissed her. Now, I'm happy for them and stuff but they're still my friends, so my goal is to make them as miserable as possible. (Kidding) But that doesn't mean I can't have my fun.

I made a show of covering my eyes and yelling. "PDA!"

They broke apart and Jessica smacked me. "Like you've never kissed a guy." She scoffed.

I stuck my tongue out at her, but I didn't deny it. Jessica gasped, her eyes going wide. She plunked down beside me. "Oh my gods. When was it? Who was it? Why didn't you tell me? Was it Harry?"

"Geez." I said, holding my hands up in surrender. "Take a breath woman, you need to breath."

Raymond snorted and Jessica glared at me.

"Your inner Aphrodite is showing." I replied.

Jessica smacked my shoulder. "Tell me!"

"No."

"Why not?" Jessica pouted.

"Because it's not important."

"But it's gossip." Jessica said. "I need my gossip. I haven't had a good fix in days. Days Dianna."

I laughed. "Well I'm gossip intolerant." I replied.

Jessica scrunched up her nose.

Then Daniel walked in. "Hey guys . . . pancakes?"

We all started laughing. Then we settled down and began to eat. I was surprised, Jessica was inhaling the pancakes. "Whoa, what did the pancakes do to offend you?" I asked, pointing my fork at Jessica.

She glared at me. "Just because I'm a child of Aphrodite doesn't mean I don't have an appetite."

I surrendered. "Just save some for me."

She laughed and threw a pancake at my face. I was about to retaliate when Marian walked in and said. "No more food fights." So I shoved it in my mouth to hide my embarrassment.

She sat down and said. "While we're all here I guess you would like to know more about us."

I turned to her, my mouth filled with more pancake then I could chew, a piece dangling from my mouth.

"As I've said Daniel is a descendant of Poseidon, so is his sister." Marian began. "Our ancestor, Periclymenus was a grandson of Poseidon, and Poseidon gave him the ability to change shape which has been passed down for generations."

"Can you change shape?" Jessica asked, curious.

Marian laughed softly. "No, no. I'm not a descendant, my husband is. His father had the ability and passed it down to him. His name was Shen Lun and he went to camp Jupiter. They kicked him out, blaming him for an earthquake. It was not his fault, yet they forced him out in shame. Which is how we ended up here, in Canada."

Raymond scowled. "I can't change shape."

"The gift was given once to a mortal family." Marian responded.

"Can I see it?" Raymond asked, looking at Daniel.

I watched as he changed shape in the blink of an eye to a Raven. He pecked at his pancakes before changing back into himself. Our mouths dropped open.

Daniel waved his hand. "Oh please, you guys have cool powers to. How does this surprise you?"

"You know." I teased, the first to find my wits again. "I still think you're descended from Athena."

Daniel rolled his eyes and I grinned.

"So, let's talk about your quest and see how we can aid you in any way." Marian said, and my grin fell, along with my good mood.

Raymond and Jessica took turns telling the story, I had to recount certain things, my fight with the Cyclopes, meeting Daniel, the freaky dreams, meeting Daniel _again_ and fighting off cannibals.

"Alaska." Marian mused. "The land beyond the Gods." She studied us and sighed. "So young, too young for this. I hope you can return home and see your families."

Jessica's gaze hardened instantly, her eyes filling with hate at the thought of her father, Raymond looked wistful and a little sad, like he missed them, and my eyes stung with tears as my dream came back full force and I felt guilty for forgetting, if only for a little while.

I pushed my plate away, done with my food.

Everyone's eyes were on me and Jessica's gaze instantly softened. "Don't worry Dianna, he'll be fine. We'll save him, I promise."

The words that were supposed to be comforting only made me feel worse. He wasn't fine, he never would be fine, because he was _dead_. They couldn't save him.

I opened my mouth to tell them but nothing would come out. I remembered the cavern and I felt like I was suffocating, smooshed. I got up blindly and left, I needed air, the walls were too much.

"Dianna?"

I ran. I left the door open and ran into the woods, collapsing by the first tree and letting the grief consume me.

"It's not fair." I sobbed.

"Dianna?" Daniel said, his voice soft.

"Go away." I sobbed.

"Look, I had no idea." Daniel said. "If I can help in any way I will. I promise."

"You can't." I sobbed, but even through my tears I could hear the coldness in my voice. I knew it hit him hard and I heard him turn away to leave. For some reason I didn't want him gone. "No one can help him." I whispered softly, without thinking.

"Why not?" Daniel asked, turning back to face me.

My throat closed up and before I realised it I was reaching my hand into my backpack and pulling out the rose, the one thing I had on Christen. The feeling calmed me enough to talk. I looked up at Daniel, my vision blurry with tears and said: "He's dead."

Daniel sits next to me. "When did it happen?" He asked.

I bit my lip. "I had a dream about it last night. I – I saw it. I could have stopped it. But I didn't because if I did I would have died and my dad didn't want that. All I had to do was turn myself in and she would have let him go."

"Dianna." Daniel said softly. "It wasn't your fault, it was Gaea's, _she_ killed him to try and break you. You can't let her, it's not what your dad would want."

I twirled the rose in my fingers. "He was all I had . . . I – I'm alone now."

"No, you have your friends Dianna, they'd never leave you. And you have me." Daniel said. "I won't leave now. I'll join your quest. Our meeting wasn't an accident, I can help you guys, I know it."

I looked at him. "It's not that I don't want you there but . . . I don't want you getting hurt."

"I want to help." Daniel insisted. "I can help."

I couldn't find the heart to argue with him. "Raymond's the leader of the quest." I said with a shrug. "Ask him and your mom."

Daniel smiled a little and looked at the rose. "Did your boyfriend give you that?" He asked, sounding . . . apprehensive?

"It's from a rose bush at camp." I said. "When satyr's die they reincarnate as plants. My friend Christen died bringing me to camp and became a rose bush, I always went there to calm my nerves. Before I left my friend Harry took a rose off to give to me so I wouldn't get homesick."

"He sounds like a good guy." Daniel said.

"He is." I said. "He's my best friend. Almost my brother really." I decided not to mention the kiss, I wasn't quite sure what to think of that. "He's a son of Apollo, he's fighting in the war right now against the Romans." I sighed. "I hope he's okay."

Daniel didn't say any of the cliché shit, like I bet he's okay. And I was grateful. We both knew it could end badly, people died in wars.

I sighed again, twirling the rose around in my fingers. "I suppose I always knew this would happen." I muttered.

"How could you know?" Daniel asked, turning to face me.

"The oracle at camp gave me a warning." I muttered. "She told me I'd suffer a great loss."

Daniel sat by me in silence for a second, then he said: "We should probably head back, I bet the others are worried about you."

"Yeah." I muttered, putting the rose back in my bag. "Let's go."

We walked back in and I was basically tackled by Jessica. "Don't run off like that." She scolded. "You scared me!"

"Sorry." I mumbled, letting her lead me back into the kitchen.

"Listen Dianna." Raymond said. "We'll get your dad back. I swear on the –"

"No!" I cut him off loudly. "Don't swear it! You can't swear it! You can't get him back! No one can! He's dead! He died! I saw it last night! I couldn't deal with it, I thought that if I didn't tell you guys it wouldn't be real." My voice dropped to a whisper and I bowed my head. "I was wrong."

"Oh Dianna." Jessica whispered, hugging me softly. "I'm so sorry."

I shrugged helplessly. "I should have known. The oracle warned me after all. _You will suffer a great loss_."

Jessica sighed sadly and I was shocked when I felt one of her tears. I pulled back and wiped it away. "Why are you crying?" I asked.

Jessica laughed without any humor. "I can't be sad for my friend?" She asked, wiping away another tear.

I didn't know how to answer her, I looked over at Raymond and saw him glaring down at the table. "Raymond?" I said softly.

Jessica looked over and leaned in, whispering in my ear. "His fatal flaw is loyalty."

"Oh." I said softly. I walked over to him and sat down. "Raymond, he was going to die no matter what we did. And if it wasn't him it probably would have been you or Jessica. We can't thwart prophecies."

"You're taking this awful calmly." Raymond said, looking up at me.

I shook my head. "I cried myself dry last night and a little bit ago. I'm sure I'll cry a lot more later but for now I'm trying to focus on the quest, and getting revenge. There's a girl in Alaska that needs our help."

I held my hand out to Raymond and he took it, allowing me to haul him to his feet. I gave him a hug and Jessica squashed me between them.

And I realised something, they were my family now, I wasn't alone. And as long as I had them Gaea couldn't break me.

**This chapter was pretty lengthy but I'm trying to shorten the chapters in the Zhang house and them getting back on the road. They'll be back on the road in the next chapter or two. And before I forget, Merry Christmas!**


	17. Chapter 17: Four's a Party

**Here's Chapter 17,** **enjoy!**

We pulled apart after a while and I managed a weak smile.

"Okay." Raymond said, looking at the sun. "We should probably head out soon, who knows how much longer we have to get to Alaska?"

I nodded and turned, giving Marian a hug. "Thanks for everything." I said softly.

"No problem." Marian said, ruffling my hair. "Drop in on your way back, we'd love to see you."

I smiled. "No problem."

"Guys." Daniel said. "You said accidents don't happen on quests, so I'm wondering, why would you show up here?"

Jessica and Raymond frowned and I knew he was going to spring the , let me come with you on them.

"I think I'm supposed to go with you."

Marian froze along with Raymond and Jessica. "No." Marian said. "This isn't your quest Daniel, no, no, no. I won't let you."

Raymond began to study Daniel, as if debating whether or not to let him come. Jessica looked at Marian, worried.

"Daniel, quests are dangerous." Jessica said. "There's a possibility none of us will come back alive. Are you sure you're thinking this through?"

Daniel nodded. "I am."

Raymond nodded. "If your mom agrees." He said. "I agree with you, I have this feeling to. We'll need you."

I looked at Daniel, then Raymond and Jessica. _Two boys and two girls._ I thought. _It's balanced. _

Marian looked at Daniel. "You come home, you hear me?"

He nodded. "I will."

She gave him a hug and then pulled back. "I'll get you all some supplies. I'll be right back."

When she left it was a bit awkward, no one knew what to say. Instead of three we'd be four, two boys and two girls, balanced perfectly it would seem. But gods I was nervous.

I got bored and started dabbling with the mist, tricking Raymond into thinking he had two pancakes left instead of one. I made him think he was cutting it but when he went to bite down I made it vanish and he bit down on thin air.

"Dianna!"

I started laughing, Jessica joining in with me while Raymond sulked and hesitantly poked his last pancake, checking to see if it was real. And that made me laugh harder.

We were in a good mood by the time Marian came to say goodbye. "Don't worry." I said with a small smirk. "I'll make sure he comes home."

Marian gave me a hug and Daniel protested while everyone else laughed. But I wasn't laughing. Gaea wanted to break me, she wanted to kill my friends. And I was determined not to lose another one.

. . .

Marian gave us some mortal money and sandwiches for the train ride. She hugged Daniel again and restocked our supply of ambrosia and nectar. When she noticed I didn't have a visible weapon she insisted that I should be armed.

"Where's your weapon." Marian asked, eyeing my belt, my dagger less belt.

"Umm . . ."

"During our last fight I summoned water." Raymond explained. "Her dagger was washed away."

"You need a weapon." Marian said. "Come on, to the attic."

"It's fine." I insisted. "I have weapons. A gift from my mom, it's seriously cool."

Jessica raised her eyebrows. "Seriously? When did you discover this?"

"The hellhound." I said. "It's how I killed it. Watch and be amazed . . . hopefully." I closed my eyes, trying to figure out how the whole gift thing worked. Did it only happen in battle? How would I summon it?

I thought: weapons, battle armour, knives.

Then I tried to imagine myself with daggers on my hips, decked out for battle. But it didn't work. "Dang it!" I complained, crossing my arms and huffing in annoyance.

Jessica suppressed a smirk and I glared, my cheeks heating up. No better way to start the day then balling, food fights and then utter embarrassment.

Marian took us all to the attic and my jaw dropped when we walked in. It was stocked with weapons.

"Whoa."

Marian chuckled and Daniel whistled. "No wonder you've never let me come up here."

Marian gave him a good natured smack upside the head before heading deeper into the attic. "What weapons do you prefer?"

"A dagger." I said. "Or throwing knives."

"She's crazy good with throwing knives." Jessica said, making me blush and Marian raise her eyebrows.

"My father was a magician." I mumbled. "I grew up around his work. He taught me. Although I wouldn't say crazy good."

"Stop being modest." Jessica said. "You should have seen her when we fought the empousai. She saved my life. Threw her dagger from twenty feet away and incinerated her."

"You forgot the fact that we were surrounded by mortals." Raymond said with a small smirk. "And she didn't hit a single one."

"Luck." I said.

"Luck was only a part of it." Jessica said, shoving my shoulder lightly. "Learn to take a compliment. You saved my life."

"You saved mine." I said. "You were the hero last time Jessica. You saved us all from the empousai's charmspeak."

Jessica shrugged. "A power from my mom." She said dismissively.

"We all have powers." I said. "The hard part is using them."

Jessica smirked and Marian interrupted. "Well, we don't have any throwing knives unfortunately. But I do have some daggers, just a second. Daniel, honey, go pick out a weapon you like."

Daniel nodded and went weapon hunting in the attic, blowing dust off of the old ones.

Marian came back with knives quickly, we spent a while testing them but none seemed to work for me. Call me picky but they just didn't seem right. Too big, too heavy, to light. If I wanted to be able to fight and throw this new knife it had to be just right, or else I could die. I know it sounds dramatic but it's the truth.

Finally we ran out of knives.

"Hmm." Marian said, after an hour of trying and figuring out my fighting style. "I think I know just the thing, wait here."

As I waited Daniel came back, tightening the string on a bow, a dagger strapped on his belt. When he seemed satisfied he tested it out with an arrow, pulling it back before slowly releasing it.

"You're an archer?" Raymond asked, raising an eyebrow and Daniel nodded. I pretended to think.

"Hmm. So you can change shape, you're scared to death of spiders and now you're an archer." I said, tapping my chin in 'deep' thought. "Who are you descended from again?"

"It's part of the gift." Daniel explained.

"Archery skills?"

"No." Daniel said. "You can be anything. An archer, a famous singer, an actor, a thief. Anything. It doesn't just come down to changing form."

Raymond cocked his head. "And you got this gift from Poseidon?"

"Yea."

Raymond narrowed his eyes. "How come I never got the gift?"

"It was only given to a mortal family once." Daniel said. "To my ancestor. Periclymenus, grandson of Poseidon. And trust me, it's not always a blessing."

Raymond frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"

Before Daniel could answer Marian came back with two daggers. "Try these." She said, holding them out to me.

They were twin daggers, I wasn't used to two but I figured I could learn. I gripped them, weighing them in my palm. A little on the light side but they seemed durable, a monster killing weapon. To test them I took a step back from the others and twirled them in my fingers.

"A little on the light side." I mused. "But not bad overall. One final test." I looked at Jessica. "Throw something for me."

Jessica took off her camp necklace and I smirked.

A challenge. I thought. I knew it would be hard. I didn't want to break it, maybe catch it on the hilt, aim a little below the cord.

Jessica threw it like a Frisbee, the camp necklace flying across the room. I spun towards it and chucked one of my daggers, switching hands and throwing the other one, below where the necklace would hit the wall. Just in case the other knife failed and it slid down the wall.

The necklace hit the wall and started sliding, but the first knife slammed into the wall not a second later, landing inside the necklace and letting it swing from the hilt. The other knife hit just under the necklace, it would have stopped it had the first knife missed.

"Assuming they don't break when I pull them out of the wall they'll work perfectly fine." I said with a smile. "I can use them, right?"

Marian nodded, examining the wall. "Good job. I'm impressed."

"Thanks." I said with a small smile, walking over and picking up Jessica's necklace. "I'll try to return them."

Marian laughed. "You'd have a hard time breaking that. Stygian iron and all."

I frowned. "What?"

"The metal. It's Stygian iron."

I pulled out a knife and sure enough the blade was black. "Whoa." I said softly. "So that's the metal."

Jessica shuddered. "I hear that it absorbs the life force of whatever you stab."

"I saw a daughter of Pluto with a sword made out of that metal." Raymond said darkly. "It's usually wielded by children of Hades (or Pluto) because they can control the dead, when the weapon absorbs their life force I've heard it gives them extra strength."

I suddenly felt like I shouldn't take the daggers. But . . . they were the best match I had and I couldn't see my reflection to well. That was always a plus when I haven't showered for a week.

I shrugged. "Oh well." I said. "I'm a child of Hecate, hopefully that means I can wield whatever magic is in this metal."

Daniel smirked. "You should get a wand. Cast some serious spells."

Raymond chuckled and Jessica giggled. I summoned the mist and made it wrap around one of the knives, imaging it as a wand. It was easier this time, less draining, maybe practice was the trick.

"Better?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

Okay, maybe I was showing off a little bit. But it was awesome, the shock and the looks on their face. I summoned a fake magicians hat and took it off, bowing dramatically, before letting it dissolve. I loved the mist, I could even convince myself it was real.

"Amazing." Jessica said in awe as I removed the mist from my new knife. Raymond just looked sort of troubled, like something horrible was dawning on him. It dampened my mood dramatically, letting my worst memories come back. I imagined a wall in my mind, manipulating it like I had learned to manipulate the mist. Blocking out the dreams and bad memories. There was no time to grieve, not until the quest was over.

"So . . ." I said, dragging the word out until everyone looked at me. "When do we leave?"

"I think you should rest another day." Marian said. "Get fully fed. I can purchase you train tickets north. I'm a mortal, monsters will leave me be, don't worry about that. You can leave in the morning."

I looked at Raymond and Jessica, it seemed like a sensible plan but I was still worried. That monster in the pit wasn't getting any smaller.

"Alright." Raymond said. "Sounds like a plan."

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We relaxed, ate, healed and sparred. I watched Daniel practicing with the bow and I waited until he fired another shot before saying. "You mind teaching me?"

Daniel jumped and turned. "How to shoot?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm not very good at it myself."

"It's easy once you get the hang of it." Daniel said. So I spent a few hours outside, practicing with the bow. I got better, but the bow was a bit big for me. I hit the target a little less than half the time. And not even a moving target at that. Oh well.

"So, what other animals can you turn into?" I asked, curious about his family powers.

"Any really." Daniel said with a shrug. "I just have to concentrate. Watch." One moment Daniel stood before me and the next he vanished. I looked around before something nuzzled my leg. I almost jumped out of my skin. I looked down and saw a chocolate lab puppy starring at me with big brown eyes that melted my heart.

"Aw." I said, before I could stop myself. I knelt and pet Daniel. He gave a little bark and I laughed, pulling him onto my lap.

"So." I said conversationally. "Can you talk when you're in animal form?"

Daniel shifted and jumped off my lap, bounding a little ways away before changing again into human. "It really depends." He said. "It's hard work. A lot of concentration, I managed it as a raven before but I don't sound like myself. It's like . . . like what the animal would sound like if it could talk."

I nodded. "That's pretty cool." I admitted.

Daniel shrugged but before he could respond his mom came out and announced that she had booked the train for two hours after dawn. I looked up at the sky and realised that the sun was starting to set.

Damn, where'd the time go.

We went inside and ate supper, joking around and teasing each other. Then we went upstairs where we slept on real beds for the first time in what felt like ages. I didn't even mind having to share with Jessica and Raymond. They cuddled up at the top and I curled up at the base of the bed.

"I swear to all the Gods that if either of you fart on me . . ."

I couldn't finish my threat because they were laughing to hard for me to speak. "I'm serious." I grumble. "I'm establishing some bed rules. 1: No farting, period. 2: No awkward make out sessions, I'm begging you. And the final rule: No sex while I'm here sleeping."

I smirked as they tried to defend themselves, their faces bright red. I chucked one of my pillows at Raymond. "Sh." I said, putting a finger to my lips. "Some people are trying to sleep."

He grumbled curses at me, giving me back my pillow and I curled up, for once in a long time not having dreams.

I woke up feeling refreshed and invigorated. I saw Jessica and Raymond cuddling in their sleep and got up silently, taking a quick shower so I wouldn't get attacked by water.

Bored, I sat on the floor, taking a good look through the bag Harry packed me. Ambrosia, nectar, bandages, some mortal medicine and my camera. I had given it to him to hold so no one from the Hermes cabin could snatch it. It was one of those camera's that once you took the picture it would shoot out the bottom. I was making a scrap book at camp. Only the Fate's knew how long we would be around for.

I smirked as an idea came over me and I snuck back into the guest room, taking a picture of Jessica and Raymond cuddling in their sleep, taking a pen from the table and scribbling their names on the back.

I put the photo in the bag, changing it back into a bracelet but leaving my camera out. I posed in front of Raymond and Jessica sleeping and took a picture, stifling my laughter at the picture.

I went searching for a sharpie so I could draw on Raymond and Jessica's faces, but instead I ran into Daniel, who had just woken up. I quickly hid the camera behind my back, slipping it back into my bag.

"Good morning." I said cheerfully.

"Morning?"

I looked out the window, dawn. I smirked. "Let's go wake up Raymond and Jessica."

Daniel shrugged and followed me. I slipped onto the bed, standing and I looked at Raymond, passing him a pillow. He smirked and I tensed my muscles, counting down on my fingers. Three, two, one.

I began to jump on the bed, throwing my pillow at Raymond while Daniel threw his at Jessica. "Get up! Get up!" I chanted. "It's a beautiful day!"

They sat upright, Jessica screaming a little before her eyes narrowed. "Stop." She said, her voice laced with power, making me freeze to the spot. "Who's idea was it?" She asked and my hand went up slowly.

Before Jessica could get revenge Daniel broke his trace long enough to ask us all a question that left us in tears. "Want some pancakes?"

. . .

Less than two hours later we were there, at the train station. Saying goodbye to everyone. Even though we had known them for not even two days it still hurt to leave them.

"Goodbye."

That's all I heard. I saw Daniel hugging his sister. "Have fun with your boyfriend." He teased.

"Come back." She said. "Or I'll drag you back from the Underworld to kill you myself."

Daniel chuckled. "I don't doubt it."

The whistle sounded and the conductor yelled. "All aboard!"

"Bye." I said softly, climbing onto the train. I waved goodbye along with Daniel, watching them get smaller and smaller, until they were completely out of our sight.

Then it was just the four of us.

**Back on the road, next chapter defiantly picks up with a bit of action. See ya in 2015!**


	18. Chapter 18: Selfies and Flashbacks

**Happy New Years everyone! Here's a new chapter for a new year :P It's not the best one but eh, read on. Next ones better, promise. :) Enjoy!**

After a boring hour of awkward silence I pulled out my bag, taking out my camera and clicking a picture of Jessica snuggled into Raymond's side, the bulb flashing and startling them.

"Aww." I cooed. "Look at the love birds."

Jessica grumbled as I waved the picture. "Where'd you get the camera?"

"Dad." I said cheerfully. "It was in my bag."

I saw Daniel looking out the window and I smirked mischievously. I looked at Raymond and mouthed steam. I held up my camera and gestured to Daniel, trying to not make noise and ruin the plan. Raymond smiled and I held up my camera, ready to snap a picture. Suddenly the window fogged up and then some invisible force started writing on it. Daniel turned to look at me and I snapped a picture.

He jumped in surprise and then . . . he vanished.

"Daniel?" I said, looking around. I saw the words look behind you on the window and noticed the picture had developed, falling onto my seat. I went to grab it but a kitten pounced, making me jump out of my chair and onto the floor. Then it began tearing up the picture with its sharp little claws.

Jessica stole the camera and took a picture. When the kitten hissed at her Raymond stifled a laugh. "Not very photogenic, are you Daniel?"

I picked up little kitten Daniel and smirked at the brown kitten that could fit in my palm. "Puppies and kittens." I mussed. "Ever try a spider?"

Daniel hissed at me and I laughed. Then I saw a flash and a heard a click. I looked over, raising my eyebrows as Jessica brandished the picture. "Let's take a group shot."

When Daniel tried to jump off my palm I held tight. "Oh no." I said. "You're gonna be a kitten for this one, kay?"

Kitten Daniel made what noises that could have been grumbling if he was a human but he didn't try to escape. I handed Jessica Daniel for the camera, setting it on a timer and posing in front of them. There was a flash and the picture started to develop. Daniel changed back into a human and we all admired the picture.

I laughed.

I knelt in front of everyone, crossing my arms and smirking like I knew something. Raymond had his arm around Jessica and had pulled her into his side while at the same time made bunny ears over my head. Kitten Daniel was lying flat on Jessica's shoulder and his fluffy brown tail sticking straight up and his small pink tongue sticking out slightly.

We all laughed and I held the camera out at an arm's length, I smiled and Everyone stuck their faces by my shoulders and I took the picture. It was actually nice.

Then Raymond picked Jessica up and she gasped. "Raymond!"

I laughed, taking a picture of Raymond holding her bridal style, then they stood back to back like the perfect team, crossing their arms and looking smug. I snapped the picture and then told them to wait. I handed the camera to Daniel and told him I wanted to try something.

I had seen the mist before, like thick white smoke. It usually happened when I was changing something big but I thought: maybe I can summon the actual mist, or at the very least make it visible.

I started with a small amount on my palm and after some concentration a white gas ball flickered on my palm, making it look like I was holding a snowball. I smiled and Daniel took a picture. The brought the ball to my face and gently blew on it. The mist flew towards Jessica and Raymond, expanding and spreading across the floor like fog. I raised my hand and bits of the mist hung in the air, like actual mist. It gave the room and more sinister feeling and with Jessica and Raymond standing back to back like that it made for the perfect picture. Daniel took a picture of them and then Raymond came to me, grabbing my waist and lifting me up onto his shoulders. My head smacked the ceiling and I cursed him softly, stooping slightly.

Raymond laughed and I pinched his cheeks. He protested and Jessica took the picture. We began to wrestle and I heard Jessica and Daniel taking photo's and laughing.

I smirked and thickened the mist, letting it hang in the air for a few seconds. I would have left it for longer but it was draining. I just leapt up, grabbed the camera, backed into the corner and switched off the mist.

Everyone blinked, disoriented. I smirked, ready to take a picture.

Jessica noticed first. "Stop." She said and everyone froze. I struggled to overcome her voice. I could control magic, charmspeak was a version of magic, was it not? "You will not take a picture."

I strained to press the button and then it suddenly reminded me of the last time I had tried to resist a charm this powerful. The Empousai.

I didn't plan on freaking out. I jumped, throwing the camera and Jessica fumbled it, looking completely startled. I pressed myself tightly in the corner, sliding to the ground, my fingers curling unconsciously around the two puncture holes on my neck from the bite. I had a feeling they'd never fade.

I didn't know what came over me but suddenly it all rushed back to me. That moment of powerlessness where I just stood there, waiting for them to kill me. I hadn't been able to move.

Jessica set the camera down and knelt neck to me. "Dianna?"

I closed my eyes shut tightly, but all I could see was the fire hair, feel it touch, I could imagine the pain. The feeling of my blood being sucked out.

Then words cut through the vision, soft, soothing. I clung to them like a safety blanket.

"Dianna. It's okay. You're okay. They're gone, they can't hurt you anymore. We made sure of that. They aren't real. Just open your eyes, okay? Open your eyes."

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Jessica smiling reassuringly at me. She reached out and squeezed my free hand, gently touching my other one. "You can let it go." She whispered softly, no charm in her voice at all.

I appreciated that, it was like Jessica knew what I needed to hear. She didn't need the powers from her mom to be convincing or soothing. I looked at the floor, embarrassed by my outburst, slowly removing my hand.

Then Raymond was kneeling there. "PTSD." He said softly. "Don't worry, I have it to. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

I looked at Raymond, surprised. He was a child of the big three, Poseidon, he was strong, powerful, he couldn't have PTSD.

Then I realised what I was doing. I was comparing him to his dad. I was forgetting that he was a demigod, just like me. Just because his dad was a powerful, unbreakable god didn't mean that Raymond was like him. We all had our breaking points, those what if's, those moments we can't forget, no matter how hard we try. No matter who our godly parent is.

I wanted him to keep talking, I wanted to know what could possibly haunt him. I needed to know the things that made us similar, not different. And I think he knew that.

"My fatal flaw is loyalty." Raymond said. "I've been told that I'm a child of my dad's better nature, his gentler side. And that loyalty is a common fatal flaw for children of Poseidon with that side of him. This aspect of my father was powerful, helpful. So am I, it's in my nature. Which is why that's my flaw, or at least part of the reason." I didn't get why this was important, but I didn't dare interrupt him. I was curious, soaking in every word. "Fatal flaws sort of repeat themselves with certain gods and their children. For Athena it's usually pride, she's smart, so are her children. Sometimes they think they can do anything and they know everything. But that's impossible. For Hades it's usually holding grudges and Zeus is usually power or the burden from people looking up to you to be their leader. The list goes on."

Raymond took a deep breath, bracing himself. He fiddled with the beads on his necklace, five beads for five years. More than I had and more than I doubted I'd ever get.

"I came to camp when I was ten and my half-sister was already there. She had a gentle side, the same green eyes but brown hair instead, a light brown instead of black. She was twelve when I arrived, she had been there since she was eight. She couldn't control water like I could, she was the earth shaker part of dad. She was quick to get angry and the water gave her strength but couldn't heal her, she could breathe underwater, all that stuff, but she couldn't control it and it couldn't heal her. For three years we trained at camp and then . . . then the war happened." He got a faraway look in his eyes as he continued speaking. "A satyr was escorting some new campers in. A child of Athena and a Hermes camper. They were so close. Then the Romans came." Anger sparked in Raymond's eyes and also guilt. "We had been on guard duty, we saw what was happening. She summoned a tremor in the earth and the Hermes girl, she lost her balance and twisted her ankle, falling down the hill. My sister ran after her as I ran for the Athena kid. I helped them get their balance and I saw my sister fighting back the Romans, it was four on one. I should have helped her. But she was yelling at me to get the girl out of their so I did. I picked her up and carried her away. One of the Roman's got behind my sister and speared her. She knew she was dying. With the last of her strength she split the ground open beneath her and they all fell into the pit and . . . and died. I should have helped her. She was my sister and I – I let her down."

Jessica gently squeezed Raymond's hand and I stared at him in shock. "No." I said softly. "You didn't let her down. You saved lives. That's what she wanted. You didn't let her down. You made her proud."

Raymond looked down sadly and whispered. "I'm just saying. You don't have to be ashamed of being afraid, or flashbacks. Everyone gets them."

Jessica nodded, her light blue eyes drifting over my shoulder as if looking at things in the past, fingering her necklace. "What happened in the past belongs in the past." She said with a mixture of conviction and anger. It startled me, I had never seen her angry, I didn't think she got angry for some reason. I had to stop judging people based on their parentage.

"So . . . what's your fatal flaw Jessica?" I asked, shocking even myself.

"I . . . I don't know." She said softly. "It's hard to discover, fatal flaws. Aphrodite is one of the gods that the flaw varies." She smiled softly. "What about you?"

I rubbed my arms self consciously. I had a pretty good idea but I wasn't certain. "Dunno." I said softly. "I have some ideas but . . ."

"What are the tattoos for?" Daniel asked, looking at the lines on my arms.

"Oh, that." I said, startled. "It's um . . . the war and all . . . I couldn't forget." I looked down. "They'd haunt me, asking me why. I could see it all happening again and I just couldn't forget. So I – I got these to remember them." My voice sunk to a whisper. "To remember the demigods I killed."

Jessica blinked in surprise. "Dianna, why?"

"They had lives to." I said stubbornly. "Families, boyfriends or girlfriends, siblings. They don't deserve to be forgotten."

"They're Roman's." Raymond said, the disgust evident in his voice. I didn't blame him, they had killed his sister and his cousin along with countless friends. But I had the urge to defend them.

"They're _demigods_." I said. "How many do you think were children on Neptune? Venus? Your siblings. If a war with Gaea and the Titan's are coming then we can't be divided. We'll all die."

Raymond and Jessica shut down the idea quickly but Daniel was thinking hard about it. He wasn't biased, while they were.

"It's a good idea but the rift . . . how could you possibly heal it?" Daniel asked.

I shrugged, my shoulders slumping in defeat. "It was a stupid idea." I muttered, tears pricking my eyes. "But, well . . . I'm tired of fighting. I'm just tired."

Jessica squeezed my shoulder comfortingly. "I am to." She said softly. "I've lost too many siblings to this war."

Raymond nodded in agreement and I hugged them, closing my eyes. The flash of a camera ruined the moment.

I opened my eyes and stared at Daniel as he smirked, taking the picture and examining it. "Cute." He remarked.

"Give me it!" I yelled, lunging at him. We wrestled for the camera and the picture, laughing. Daniel fell on the floor, holding the camera out as far as he could while I laid on his back, reaching for it. He snapped a picture and laughed as I smirked.

Then we were all wrestling for the camera, taking pictures as we rolled on the floor. The camera skittered out of reach and as I scrambled for it I heard Jessica, her charmspeak clear and powerful.

"Sleep!"

And I instantly feel into a dreamless sleep.

I woke up gods knows how long later in my chair, curled up in a ball and pressed against the wall. I had quite the amount of pictures and I was almost out of film, I decided to save the rest for Alaska and after that.

The rest of the trip was pretty much uneventful, we slept, told silly jokes and told Daniel about camp. Then Jessica perked up on our second day on the train. "Let's play truth or dare!"

"Oh no." I said, shaking my head.

"Come on Dianna." Jessica said dramatically. "I need my gossip fix."

"I'm gossip intolerant." I reminded her.

"Take your pills girly." Jessica said with a smirk. "Cause we're going to play."

I knew there was no way I could win this argument, so I crossed my arms and slouched in my seat, muttering about stubborn Aphrodite kids and stupid gossip junkies. Jessica just laughed me off and smiled at Raymond.

"Why don't you start us off Raymond?"

"Truth or dare Jessica?"

Jessica smiled. "Truth."

"How long have you like me?" Raymond asked with a smirk.

Jessica blushed. "Since I got to camp." She muttered softly.

Raymond raised his eyebrows in surprise. Jessica turned to me. "Truth or dare Dianna?"

I pondered it. I was afraid that if I chose dare she'd humiliate me in some way but if I chose truth she'd ask me about Harry. For some reason I felt uncomfortable talking about him in front of Daniel. "Dare."

Jessica looked surprised and started to think. "I dare you . . . to lick the bottom of Raymond's shoe!"

I snorted. "That all you got?" I said. "I swallowed his sword, I can handle licking a shoe."

Raymond held up his left foot, waving it teasingly in front of my face. I laughed and licked his shoe, instantly coughing and spitting to get the horrid taste out of my mouth.

"Hades Raymond, what on Gaea did you step in!"

Raymond laughed. "I cleaned out the stables."

I retched, scraping my tongue to get rid of the taste as everyone laughed. When I finally managed to compose myself I turned to Daniel. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." He said confidently.

I thought for a second and smirked evilly. "I dare you to turn into a mouse and run through some rich women's compartment."

Daniel put on a face of mock hurt. "Do you want me to die?" He asked.

"Just go do the dare mouse man."

"Mouse man?"

I had to laugh at the shock on Daniel's face, but he transformed into a mouse and scurried out of the compartment. Five minutes later we could hear the high pitched screams of terror. "MOUSE!" A woman screeched. "KILL IT! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

I shook my head, the things mortals were afraid of. It was sort of amusing, in a weird way. We all laughed as Daniel the mouse scurried back in and changed back into a human. He was laughing for a full five minutes, gasping about the looks on their faces.

Then he turned to Raymond. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." Raymond said.

"I dare you to answer this question." Daniel said with a smirk. "How long did you like Jessica?"

Jessica looked at him expectantly and he muttered under his breath, so quietly no one heard him.

"What?" I said, making a show of putting my hand to my ear.

"When I first gave her sword fighting lessons." Raymond muttered. Then he smirked. "I saw her kick a Hermes kids but and I knew she wasn't just a pretty face."

I smirked. "You thought she was pretty?"

Raymond blushed and Jessica smiled, happy. She gave him a kiss and I snapped a picture.

"Oh not that again." Jessica said with an eye roll as I put the camera away. I shrugged and smirked.

"I needed proof that Raymond can blush."

Jessica laughed as Raymond protested. Then he smiled at me. "Truth or dare Dianna?"

"Dare." I said, trying to sound confident.

"I dare you to –" Before he could continue there was screams from the first class compartments. I looked over there quickly, my heart starting to race. Daniel slipped out into the hall to see what the commotion was, transforming into a cute little kitten and bounding down the hall.

I looked out the window, wondering if we could escape if it came to it. We were on the tracks, snow covered trees beneath us and blue giants lumbering around, about thirty feet tall each, weird objects hanging around their neck like our camp necklaces. They looked peaceful enough but I wondered if Gaea could control them, like she controlled the other monsters.

It made me sad, and that shocked me. They looked so peaceful and content, fishing in that huge ocean, adding garbage scraps to their necklace. Keep sakes, just like us. I hoped we didn't have to hurt them.

Wow, I didn't want to kill a monster. Imagine that, a half-blood that didn't want to kill a monster.

"Welcome to Alaska." Raymond said, snapping me out of my thoughts. His voice tight, like he was trying to control his nerves. "We're beyond the help of the Gods."

I barely had time to marvel at its beauty when it happened. People screamed in terror, I heard the screech of the brakes and I was thrown forwards into Jessica's lap, tumbling to the floor. Then Daniel was in the doorway, holding tight and yelling over the groaning and screeching of the metal.

I tried to focus but I only caught snitches of what he was try to say. "Crushing the . . ! . . . get off . . . gonna . . . blue . . . Gaea . . . Hyperborean . . . get rough!"

Then I was flying towards the ceiling and as the train seemed to fold in half.

**I think I'm getting better at Cliff hangers, but hey, they finally made it to Alaska! Time to get this show on the road :) as you can tell next chapters gonna be eventful. See ya in four days!**


	19. Chapter 19: Alaska

**Here you go, Chapter 19! They finally made it! Enjoy!**

I heard people screaming and I smacked into the ceiling, groaning softly before the cart tilted sideways and I was half sliding, half falling down the wall and into the seats. I crashed into them and it knocked the breath out of me.

Someone kicked me in the head and I groaned again, looking up to see Raymond hanging onto the seats on the other wall, his legs dangling in the air. "Sorry." He said breathlessly, his face white from the strain of holding himself with one arm and holding Jessica protectively with the other arm.

"It's okay." I groaned. I carefully manoeuvred myself around his legs and shakily stood up. I looked around as Raymond dropped to the floor, losing his balance and cursing as he fell on the seats, Jessica landing on him.

As they untangled themselves I caught my breath, my heart pounding in fear. "Daniel?"

Jessica and Raymond froze. I stared at the door, he had been _right there_ just seconds ago. "Daniel!" I shouted.

I remembered my promise to bring him back and I began to panic slightly. _No, no._ I thought. _He isn't dead, he can't be dead._

I was heading to the door to look for him when the train shook and I lost my balance, falling on my stomach again. The train was rocking dangerously and I knew we only had a limited amount of time before it toppled off the tracks or worse.

I wasn't anxious to meet whatever had stopped our train but I was less anxious to get crushed to death.

"We have to move." I said, my voice sounding calmer then I was.

"Yea." Jessica said. "Let's crawl."

I nodded, crawling to the door. I reached it and peered down the hall, the train was more on a steep angle, heading to a smoking, crushed cart in the middle of the train. It looked like something massive had smashed it with a fist.

The giants outside perhaps.

It looked like they had broken through the track partially. I could see the snow capped trees and the twisted metal from the track. I heard people screaming or moaning pitifully.

"We have to help the mortals." I decided. "Jessica?"

Jessica seemed to understand quickly. "Got it. You and Raymond see what did this. Find a safe way out. I'll try to calm the mortals down and find Daniel."

I nodded. "It looks like something big punched the train." I said. "Broke through the tracks. Be careful."

"You too." Jessica said seriously.

I nodded and slipped out of the cart, I held on with one hand, pulling out my dagger with the other, stabbing it into the floor. I was immensely glad I had two daggers. I let go and gripped my other one. I stabbed the ground lower then I was and pulled my other knife free. I kept that up, the muscles in my arm turning to jelly but I clung on.

Raymond was slowly picking his way down after me, using the holes in the floor I created to lower himself down. I managed to reach the broken parts and I put one knife away, grabbing the broken slab of roof above me and putting my other knife away, heaving myself up and over it and onto the roof.

I blinked at the sunlight and sudden wave of cold air. But it was oddly refreshing. I waited for Raymond, helping him up and we both looked around.

"Let's go up?" Raymond said, making it sound like a question.

"Should we split up?" I said hesitantly. I _really_ didn't want to split up. "One on each side?"

Raymond shook his head. "Look at that." He said, nodding at the fist imprint. "Whatever did that . . . well, I don't want to face it on my own."

"Me neither." I muttered.

Then we began to climb, using the edge of the train for balance instead of my knives. I was glad I used light weight knives, after all this climbing I doubted I'd be able to hold a sword, much less swing one.

I reached the top first, grabbing the lip of the back of the train and hauling myself over it. I balanced on the edge and looked around for a sign of whatever attacked us. I saw the blue giants lumbering around peacefully, picking their teeth with pine trees and playing with moose. None really seemed violent to me.

Then I saw one rubbing it's hand nearby and glaring at the train, as if it had hurt him. I realised _he_ had punched it. I chewed my lip and quietly pointed him out to Raymond.

"Let's see what he does." Raymond whispered, sitting beside me. "I don't want to fight him."

I didn't either, he _was_ thirty feet tall and all, although the fact that they only wore loincloths was a little disturbing.

The Earth shook slightly and I stumbled, and I would have fallen if Raymond hadn't steadied me. I watched in horror as monsters rose from the ground the tracks. Six armed monsters about seven feet tall each. Like the blue giants they only wore loincloths, these made from ragged leather. I gagged at the smell, their rank was off the scale. What scared me the most was when they knelt and scooped up handfuls of dirt, they instantly solidified into rocks.

"Oh gods." I muttered. "The Earthborn."

Raymond eyed the rocks nervously. There was about a dozen earthborn total, each with six arms loaded with deadly sharp rocks.

Uh-oh.

I heard the sleepy voice of Gaea from the ground they were on. _One way or another your blood will be spilled. I told you Dianna Ross, I said I'd have you. But if you wish you can die along with your friends._

I looked at Raymond, stricken.

_Kill them all._ Gaea said. _Kill Jason._

"Yay-son! Kill Yay-son!" The Earthborn chanted, glaring at our broken train. Then they threw their rocks.

I grabbed Raymond's arm, yanking him away from the train and into the air as the rocks smashed into the train cart, knocking it off the track.

We crashed onto the railroad and rolled across the tracks painfully. I groaned and sat up slowly while Raymond rushed to the side, starring over it in horror. "JESSICA!" He screamed.

"Oh gods." I whispered. "Oh gods no."

Raymond tried to stand but grimaced in pain. I looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"Sprained. Probably in the fall." Raymond answered tightly, gripping his sword with white knuckles. I summoned my bag and pulled out a square of ambrosia. "Don't protest, just eat it. You can't help Jessica if you can barely stand."

Raymond didn't protest, he stuffed it in his mouth and practically swallowed it whole. "What's the plan?" He asked, starring at the Earthborn heading to the train, new deadly rocks in their hands.

"I'll distract the earthborn, you get Jessica." I gave him the ambrosia and nectar. "She might need these."

Raymond nodded and I sprinted to the gaping hole in the track and turned to the Earthborn. "Hey! Up here you six armed freaks!"

My first thought: I needed to work on my insults. My second thought: They aren't stopping.

"Hey!" I screamed. "You want Jason? Come and get me!"

That got their attention alright. They spun around, screamed, Yay-son and threw their rocks at me. Twelve earthborn throwing rocks from their hands with six arms each means that a lot of rocks were coming my way. And damn, they threw rocks fast.

I turned and leapt straight over the gap, barely managing to get over. I scrambled up and into the second half of the train, mortals were sobbing and I felt my heart wrench. This was all my fault.

I began to climb as quickly as I could, wondering how long it took the earthborn to reload. My question was answered quickly enough when I heard screeches of metal and felt the cart shudder. I saw a little mortal boy, about five years old with huge brown eyes filled with terror. His dad was crumpled on the ground, dead or passed out I didn't know.

I felt an urge to protect him, maybe saving a kid would help me clear my conscious, I don't know. I don't really know why I did it, but I reached into the cart and I grabbed the kid, pulling him to me and whispering. "Hold on tightly."

He nodded and the train shook again as I hauled us up. He was seconds away from panicking, so I began to talk to him as I climbed. "I'm Dianna, what's your name?"

"Ash – Ashton." He stammered.

"That's a cool name." I grunted, heaving us up. "What brings you to Alaska?"

"Coming home from a trip." He sniffled, his voice filled with fear.

"That's funny. I'm on a trip with my friends." I said, trying to smile for his sake. "Hey, maybe I can come play with you at your house. Where do you live?"

"Seward." He whispered. "With Daddy and Mommy."

"I'd love to meet your mom." I said, knowing his dad was on the train. "What's she like?"

Ashton told me about his life as I climbed, calming down slightly. I asked questions and spouted random facts, trying to crack some jokes. I didn't know who I was trying to keep calm, me or him.

I reached the end, pulling us out of the back door as the train shifted dangerously and Ashton whimpered in fear. I heard the Earthborn scream Yay-son and I knew I had seconds.

I dropped to my stomach, holding the boys wrists and letting him dangle above the railroads about ten feet below his dangling legs. "Don't try to land on your feet." I warned him. "And stay on the tracks."

Then I let him go. He screamed as he fell, but I didn't get to see how he landed because then the rocks hit the cart right under me and finally succeeded in knocking it off of the tracks.

I screamed as I fell, I couldn't help it. It was a long fall, okay? And I was pretty sure I was going to die. My only thought was hoping I didn't bleed so Gaea couldn't get the Blood of Olympus.

Then talons gripped my flailing arms and I swung violently, still screaming, my eyes squeezed shut. I heard the cart crash and splinter on the ground and a minute later I was set gently down in the snow, shivering slightly at the cold.

I opened my eyes, not daring to hope. But it happened. The bald eagle landed in front of me and transformed into a beat up and bruised Daniel. I was so ecstatic that I squealed and threw my arms around him, shouting. "You're alive!"

Daniel hugged me back tightly and for a second we just stood there, embracing. I began to tremble. "Jessica." I whispered.

"She's okay." Daniel said. "When the cart started to fall I changed into a lion, I laid over her, dug my claws into the cart and hung on tightly. She's helping the mortals now, she got a few scrapes and such but nothing to serious, other than shock."

"Raymond freaked." I admitted. "He thought . . . we thought you were both . . . you disappeared Daniel!" I sobbed, not realising how worried I had been till that moment.

Daniel was a bit surprised but he hugged me tighter. "I'm okay Dianna, really. You don't have to worry."

"I thought you might have been dead!" I sobbed angrily. "I can't lose you! I can't lose anyone else, you understand! Don't you dare die on me Daniel Zhang!"

He chuckled softly. "Yes ma'am."

I laughed a little, pulling back. "You bet –" I began but was cut off by the boy I saved (Ashton) screaming.

"Dianna! Monsters!"

I whipped around and saw the Earthborn advancing. Daniel drew his bow and fired at them with lightning speed. He managed to take out four before they threw their deadly rocks at us. Daniel changed into a bald eagle, lifting me safely out of range. "Head straight to them." I told Daniel. "And drop me into them, change into something else and then help me fight them, okay?"

Daniel swooped in, dodging rocks in the air, dropping me ten feet above the earthborn, giving me time to draw my daggers as I fell. I sliced as I fell through them, turning two of them into mush instantly. I chopped another one's arm off before spinning and stabbing another one in the chest. I waited for Daniel to blind them or shoot them with a bow but nothing happened.

I began to panic.

An earthborn reached for me and I jumped away. I began to jump and dodge, I managed to make one kill another one with a rock, leaving me with only four enemies.

I slashed with my daggers, turning another earthborn to lumpy clay but I was thrown off balance by a screech of pain from a bird. I glanced up and saw Daniel as a bald eagle spiral out of the sky and into a snow bank, a griffon dive bombing after him.

That lapse of attention costed me. I was backhanded by an earthborn, flying into a pine tree shoulder first and sliding to the bottom in the snow, dazed. I looked up and saw the remaining three earthborn glaring at me and picking up lumps of dirt that changed into rocks.

"Yay-son dies!" They roared, throwing the rocks.

I leapt up and sprinted away, they rocks hitting they tree and breaking the trunk. It swayed for a second before falling and crushing the earthborn, as well as one of the griffons attacking Daniel.

I started to run to him, climbing over the pine tree to reach him. But it shook and was suddenly pushed upwards and sideways. I fell in the snow and it landed on my legs, pinning me to the cold, wet ground.

"Yay-son dies!" An Earthborn roared. I realised that it must have survived. I tried to do the one thing I thought would by me some time.

"Look!" I yelled, pointing into the woods. "It's Jason!"

The Earthborn roared, launching rocks into the woods and I was surprised it worked. I tried to struggle free and I heard the Earthborn lumber towards me. "Die Yay-son!"

I closed my eyes and prepared for death, wondering if I would achieve Elysium if I didn't complete my quest.

There was a defiant yell and then the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. I opened my eyes and heard people scrambling around me.

"Dianna?"

"Jessica?" I said hopefully. She knelt in front of me and grinned. She looked fine other than some small cuts on her face, her ratty hair and torn clothes. Her dagger was covered in clay and she looked like she had claw marks on her arm.

"Griffons." She said with a small shrug.

"Maybe we can dig you out." Raymond said, getting on his knees. I gripped his arm.

"There's a kid on the tracks. His name is Ashton, I – I helped him. I think he's a clear sighted mortal. He screamed monsters." I explained.

Raymond looked thoughtful. "Maybe, but let's get you out first."

"What about Daniel?" I asked. "He was attacked by a griffon when he was an eagle, I saw him fall."

"I'll look." Jessica said. "Get her out."

Raymond nodded and started digging, stabbing the earth with my dagger. "It's frozen." He muttered.

"Looks like Alaska didn't get the summer memo." I muttered, although I was glad it was a light snow, not thick and freezing.

Raymond grunted. "I bet it's Khione messing with us."

"Yippee." I muttered sarcastically.

Then we heard the sound of helicopters and Raymond glanced up. "Mortal search and rescue. Maybe they could help?"

"Maybe." I said uncertainly. I wasn't sure involving mortals was the best way to go.

Then Jessica and Daniel were there, kneeling in front of me. "You're legs aren't broken, are they?"

I shook my head. "The Earthborn sorta pushed the tree on me. It's just pinning me down."

"I'd change shape and help but . . ." Daniel looked at the crowd of mortals and then at the bleeding arm he was clutching, letting out a huff of annoyance.

"I can get some mortals. I'll say you were trying to get away from the wreckage and the tree fell." Jessica said, standing up.

"Be careful." Raymond said seriously.

Jessica smiled, still pretty covered in dirt, sweat, monster dust and clay. I really wanted to know how she did that.

Jessica got up and ran off and I huffed in annoyance. "I hate this." I grumbled. "Why did I get pinned by the stupid tree?"

Daniel managed a smile, examining the gash on his arm. "How bad?" I asked.

"I'll live." He said. "It happened when I was an eagle. Sliced my wing open, stupid griffon talons."

I managed a small smile.

"She was trying to get away from the wreckage." Jessica said, her voice coming closer. Her voice trembled, like she was scared and about to cry. Good acting. "Something had hit the tree and it was swaying. It – it fell and I heard her scream. Now she's stuck!" I heard Jessica sob and a woman comfort her.

A man crouched down in front of me. He looked strong, dark brown eyes and hair, with a fair tan. He looked like he was in his early thirties and I recognised him, he was Ashton's father, he was unconscious. I was glad he was okay. But he looked sad.

"You okay kid?" He asked.

I blinked at him, shocked. "You – you were in the train." I stammered. "I saw you . . . Ashton was with you . . ."

The man blinked in shock, pain flashing across his features. "How do you know my son?" He whispered.

"I was trying to get out of the train and I saw him. I got him out and dropped him on the tracks but the train fell before I could get off." I whispered. "He's okay, right?"

The man looked desperate, a small glimmer of hope in his eyes. "Let's get this tree off of you first." He said.

"Please." I said.

He gathered about a dozen more men – including Raymond – and had them lift the tree off of me. Daniel hauled me out when he could and I wrapped him in a tight hug, playing the role of a damsel in distress and all that.

Then I shakily stood up and thanked everyone who helped me before they turned to help others. The man stayed with us and I pointed out his son. I could just see Ashton standing up there, staring at us.

We walked over and Raymond looked up before saying. "How are we going to get him down?"

"Helicopter most likely." The man said. "I'm just so glad he's safe." He surprised me by giving me a hug. "Thank you."

"I couldn't leave him behind." I said. "And you saved me so we're even."

He smiled softly and an hour later they were reunited. Medic's wrapped up Daniel's arm and treated our various scraps. We could have used nectar but it would have been too suspicious. It took all of my power over the mist and Jessica's power of persuasion to create a believable story for us.

We were on a trip going to different places in Canada paid for by our parents, Jessica even convinced people Raymond was my brother and that all of our things were lost in the crash.

They took pity on us and Ashton's dad (Jared) offered to bring us to his house in Seward for a bit, while we got our parents to arrange a way for us to get back home.

We accepted and I managed to sleep in the car, curled up with my head on my 'brothers' shoulder. Surprisingly I had no dreams and I slept the whole ride and some more.

I felt safe in this car with my friends, and that thought let me sleep peacefully, for hours on end. The action of the day catching up to me and exhaustion setting over me and carrying me under.

**There we go, they've made it to Alaska, there's the Earthborn like requested (Thanks for the idea Stormrunner74 or Sam, whatever you prefer). Hope you enjoyed, see you in four days!**


	20. Chapter 20: Not Dreams Anymore

**Here's Chapter 20, a little short but I didn't know how else to write it, it's sort of a filler chapter. I have a little bit of writers block so I may have to space the updates out to every five days, chapter 23's a pain to write. Anyway, Enjoy!**

I woke up on the couch with Jessica, curled up in some blankets, a fire roaring in the fire place. I was confused, blinking sleepily.

"Finally." Raymond said with a joking grin. "I thought you'd never wake up sis."

I smiled at him, sitting up and stretching. "You didn't get hit by a tree." I remind him with a wink.

Raymond smirked and put a finger to his lips. "Don't wake Jess."

"Nicknames, hmm."

"Would you like one?"

"I thought mine was sis." I teased.

Raymond laughed softly. "It sure is."

I got off the couch and sat by Raymond. "How did I get there?"

He nudged me. "You have such an awesome brother that carried you."

"Aww." I cooed, smirking. "How sweet." Then I looked around. "Where's Daniel?"

"They took him to a hospital to get his arm checked out." Raymond said. "The woman did anyways."

I nodded, then I looked around. "Have any dreams?" I whispered.

"None." Raymond whispered. "I don't even know if my powers will work here."

"I think it will." I whisper. "Jessica's, Daniel's and mine do. So I'm guessing your will to."

Raymond shrugged, twisting his fingers in his lap. "Thanks, you saved us yesterday. I – I panicked when I thought Jessica . . ."

"It's okay." I said, nudging him with my shoulder. "We can take turns."

Raymond smiled half heartedly, still troubled. "Look." I said, looking him in the eyes. "Just because your dad is one of the big three doesn't mean you're all powerful. You're still a teenager, you aren't perfect, no one is. Not you, not me, not Daniel, not Jessica, no one."

"Yeah." Raymond said.

I heard a soft moan and I looked over and saw Jessica getting up and wiping drool off of the side of her mouth and I snickered softly. "Morning sleeping beauty."

Jessica groaned, face planting into her pillow. "I feel like schist." She mumbled and I blinked. "What?"

"Greenstone. It's a rock." She mumbled. "We can't curse at camp so I made up my own."

I laughed along with Raymond. "That's perfect."

"Can it." Jessica mumbled.

Then Jared walked in and smiled at us. "Good morning." He said. "My wife set out some clothes for you last night, you can bathe and change, then eat."

"Thank you." I said, getting up. "I'm going first guys."

Jessica just mumbled something incoherent and waved me away, her face still buried in the pillow. I took a quick bath, the water turning black, brown and red as I bathed, but I came out looking refreshed and not smelling like the earthborn. That was a relief.

Raymond went next surprisingly and I sat with Jessica, I promised her she could braid my hair after her bath. So we sat and talked, she twisted her fingers and said softly.

"Jared wants us to call our parents." She said, waiting for me to say something.

"I can use the mist . . ." I trailed off uncertainly.

"No, I – I'll call him." Jessica said. "He can buy us tickets back to camp. But – but how are we going to find her? Where is she?"

"I don't know." I admitted.

Jessica looked dejected, then Raymond walked in after his shower, dressed in a cotton shirt and brown slacks, his black hair as unruly as ever. Jessica smiled at him, getting up and walking to the bath as Raymond settled on the couch with me.

Jared walked in and sat in front of us. "Listen, I was thinking of giving you a quick tour of Seward before you left. It's a small town but I thought you should see at least a bit of Alaska before leaving."

I smiled. "That'd be great."

Jared smiled and Jessica came out, braiding her wet hair. She wore a long cotton dress that looked amazing on her. I felt like the odd one out in my light blue dress and boots.

I handed Jessica my elastic and she sat down, braiding my hair as we explained everything to her. She nodded and said. "You guys go on the tour, I'll call my dad and explain everything to him." She looked at Jared. "That's okay . . . right?"

"That's fine." Jared said. "But we can wait for you."

"No." Jessica said, a little too quickly. "You guys go on ahead."

Raymond looked at her, chewing his lower lip discreetly. They seemed to have a silent conversation that Jessica won. He nodded and I stood. "So, when's the tour?"

"After breakfast." Jared said, he looked at Jessica. "Phones in the kitchen, you don't mind watching Ashton, do you?"

"Not at all." Jessica said with a smile. We all walked to the kitchen and ate our breakfast – brunch really – and headed out. Jared led us around the small town, pointing out the features. The grey waters of Cook Inlet surrounding the north bay, the forests surrounding the small town, the Chugach Mountains in the distance, the peaks capped with snow even in the summer. It looked peaceful and beautiful and . . . untouched. The whole town had this weather beaten look to it, untouched by the gods. It was amazing.

"Wow." I breathed, looking around the small town. Jared chuckled softly. "It's so . . . peaceful. So much better than the city."

"Where are you from?" Jared asked.

"New York." I answered, in some weird trance. Everything about this place was intoxicating. I felt giddy, I felt free. The Gods couldn't touch us here, it felt like all of the burden from my quest and the warnings just slipped away. Those involved the gods, but the gods weren't here. "I love it here."

Jared smiled as I took it all in, then I saw something by the water, an old rundown shack, weather beaten. "What's that?" I asked, pointing. "Storage?"

"It's a house." Jared answered, steering them away. "That family moved in a few months ago."

We walked around all day, enjoying the sights and joking around. We were heading back, passing the old shack when I saw it. A little girl headed out of the shack and toward the bay. She was small, dark skinned, with curly brown hair and a dark dress. She looked at the ground but when she felt my eyes on hers she looked up for a split second.

Then she looked away quickly and hurried away, she looked nervous and scared. I looked over at Raymond, and then back at the girl, but she had vanished. I thought I had just imagined it but I knew I didn't.

The girl had golden eyes.

She was the one from my dream, we had found her. Now all we needed to do was stop her.

**So, I know the description was really off, I just used the one in SoN of the city. Anyway, they finally found her! Time to get this show on the road.**


End file.
